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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Revolution in Tanner's Lane, by Mark Rutherford
+(#6 in our series by Mark Rutherford)
+
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+Title: The Revolution in Tanner's Lane
+
+Author: Mark Rutherford
+
+Release Date: October, 2004  [EBook #6690]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on January 12, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE REVOLUTION IN TANNER'S LANE ***
+
+
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1913 Hodder and Stoughton edition by David
+Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
+
+
+
+
+THE REVOLUTION IN TANNER'S LANE
+
+
+
+
+"Per various casus, per tot discrimina rerum,
+Tendimus in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas
+Ostendunt.  Illic fas regna resurgere Trojae.
+Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis."
+- Virgil.
+
+"By diuers casis, sere parrellis and sufferance
+Unto Itaill we ettill (aim) quhare destanye
+Has schap (shaped) for vs ane rest and quiet harbrye
+Predestinatis thare Troye sall ryse agane.
+Be stout on prosper fortoun to remane."
+- Gwain Douglas's translation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I--THE WORLD OUTSIDE
+
+
+
+The 20th April 1814, an almost cloudless, perfectly sunny day, saw
+all London astir.  On that day Lewis the Eighteenth was to come from
+Hartwell in triumph, summoned by France to the throne of his
+ancestors.  London had not enjoyed too much gaiety that year.  It was
+the year of the great frost.  Nothing like it had been known in the
+memory of man.  In the West of England, where snow is rare, roads
+were impassable and mails could not be delivered.  Four dead men were
+dug out of a deep drift about ten miles west of Exeter.  Even at
+Plymouth, close to the soft south-western ocean, the average depth of
+the fall was twenty inches, and there was no other way of getting
+eastwards than by pack-horses.  The Great North Road was completely
+blocked, and there was a barricade over it near Godmanchester of from
+six to ten feet high.  The Oxford coach was buried.  Some passengers
+inside were rescued with great difficulty, and their lives were
+barely saved.  The Solway Firth at Workington resembled the Arctic
+Sea, and the Thames was so completely frozen over between Blackfriars
+and London Bridges that people were able, not only to walk across,
+but to erect booths on the ice.  Coals, of course, rose to famine
+prices in London, as it was then dependent solely upon water-carriage
+for its supply.  The Father of his people, the Prince Regent, was
+much moved by the general distress of "a large and meritorious class
+of industrious persons," as he called them, and issued a circular to
+all Lords Lieutenant ordering them to provide all practicable means
+of removing obstructions from the highways.
+
+However, on this 20th April the London mob forgot the frost, forgot
+the quartern loaf and the national debt, and prepared for a holiday,
+inspired thereto, not so much by Lewis the Eighteenth as by the
+warmth and brilliant sky.  There are two factors in all human bliss--
+an object and the subject.  The object may be a trifle, but the
+condition of the subject is most important.  Turn a man out with his
+digestion in perfect order, with the spring in the air and in his
+veins, and he will cheer anything, any Lewis, Lord Liverpool, dog,
+cat, or rat who may cross his path.  Not that this is intended as a
+sufficient explanation of the Bourbon reception.  Far from it; but it
+does mitigate it a trifle.  At eleven o'clock in the forenoon two
+troops of the Oxford Blues drew up at Kilburn turnpike to await the
+sacred arrival.  The Prince Regent himself went as far as Stanmore to
+meet his August Brother.  When the August Brother reached the
+village, the excited inhabitants thereof took the horses out of the
+carriage and drew him through the street.  The Prince, standing at
+the door of the principal inn, was in readiness to salute him, and
+this he did by embracing him!  There have been some remarkable
+embraces in history.  Joseph fell on Israel's neck, and Israel said
+unto Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face:" Paul,
+after preaching at Ephesus, calling the elders of the Church to
+witness that, for the space of three years, he ceased not to warn
+every one night and day with tears, kneeled down and prayed, so that
+they all wept sore and fell on his neck:  Romeo took a last embrace
+of Juliet in the vault, and sealed the doors of breath with a
+righteous kiss:  Penelope embraced Ulysses, who was welcome to her as
+land is welcome to shipwrecked swimmers escaping from the grey
+seawater--there have, we say, been some remarkable embraces on this
+earth since time began, but none more remarkable than that on the
+steps of the Abercorn Arms.  The Divine couple then drove in solemn
+procession to town.  From the park corner for three-quarters of a
+mile or so was a line of private carriages, filled with most
+fashionable people, the ladies all standing on the seats.  The French
+Royalist flag waved everywhere.  All along the Kilburn Road, then
+thinly lined with houses, it was triumphant, and even the trees were
+decorated with it.  Arriving by way of Cumberland Gate at Piccadilly,
+Lewis was escorted, amidst uproarious rejoicing, to Grillon's Hotel
+in Albemarle Street.  There, in reply to an address from the Prince,
+he "ascribed, under Providence," to his Royal Highness and the
+British people his present blissful condition; and soon afterwards,
+being extremely tired, went to bed.  This was on a Wednesday.  The
+next day, Thursday, His Sacred Majesty, or Most Christian Majesty, as
+he was then called, was solemnly made a Knight of the Garter, the
+Bishops of Salisbury and Winchester assisting.  On Friday he received
+the corporation of London, and on Saturday the 23rd he prepared to
+take his departure.  There was a great crowd in the street when he
+came out of the hotel and immense applause; the mob crying out, "God
+bless your Majesty!" as if they owed him all they had, and even their
+lives.  It was very touching, people thought at the time, and so it
+was.  Is there anything more touching than the waste of human loyalty
+and love?  As we read the history of the Highlands or a story of
+Jacobite loyalty such as that of Cooper's Admiral Bluewater, dear to
+boys, we sadden that destiny should decree that in a world in which
+piety is not too plentiful it should run so pitifully to waste, and
+that men and women should weep hot tears and break their hearts over
+bran-stuffing and wax.
+
+Amidst the hooraying multitude that Saturday April morning was one
+man at least, Zachariah Coleman by name, who did not hooray, and did
+not lift his hat even when the Sacred Majesty appeared on the hotel
+steps.  He was a smallish, thin-faced, lean creature in workman's
+clothes; his complexion was white, blanched by office air, and his
+hands were black with printer's ink.
+
+"Off with your tile, you b---y Corsican!" exclaimed a roaring voice
+behind him.  Zachariah turned round, and found the request came from
+a drayman weighing about eighteen stone; but the tile was not
+removed.  In an instant it was sent flying to the other side of the
+road, where it was trodden on, picked up, and passed forward in the
+air amidst laughter and jeers, till it was finally lost.
+
+Zachariah was not pugnacious, and could not very well be so in the
+presence of his huge antagonist; but he was no coward, and not seeing
+for the moment that his hat had hopelessly gone, he turned round
+savagely, and laying hold of the drayman, said:
+
+"You ruffian, give it me back; if I am a Corsican, are you an
+Englishman?"
+
+"Take that for your b---y beaver," said the other, and dealt him a
+blow with the fist right in his face, which staggered and stupefied
+him, covering him with blood.
+
+The bystanders, observing the disparity between the two men,
+instantly took Zachariah's side, and called out "Shame, shame!"  Nor
+did they confine themselves to ejaculations, for a young fellow of
+about eight and twenty, well dressed, with a bottle-green coat of
+broadcloth, buttoned close, stepped up to the drayman.
+
+"Knock my tile off, beer-barrel."
+
+The drayman instantly responded by a clutch at it, but before he
+could touch it he had an awful cut across the lips, delivered with
+such scientific accuracy from the left shoulder that it was clear it
+came from a disciple of Jackson or Tom Cribb.  The crowd now became
+intensely delighted and excited, and a cry of "A ring, a ring!" was
+raised.  The drayman, blind with rage, let out with his right arm
+with force enough to fell an ox, but the stroke was most artistically
+parried, and the response was another fearful gash over the right
+eye.  By this time the patriot had had enough, and declined to
+continue the contest.  His foe, too, seemed to have no desire for any
+further display of his powers, and retired smilingly, edging his way
+to the pavement, where he found poor Zachariah almost helpless.
+
+"Holloa, my republican friend, d---n it, that's a nasty lick you've
+got, and from one of the people too; that makes it harder to bear,
+eh?  Never mind, he's worse off than you are."
+
+Zachariah thanked him as well as he could for defending him.
+
+"Not a word; haven't got a scratch myself.  Come along with me;" and
+he dragged him along Piccadilly into a public-house in Swallow
+Street, where apparently he was well known.  Water was called for;
+Zachariah was sponged, the wound strapped up, some brandy given him,
+and the stranger, ordering a hackney coach, told the driver to take
+the gentleman home.
+
+"Wait a bit," he called, as the coach drove off.  "You may feel
+faint; I'll go home with you," and in a moment he was by Zachariah's
+side.  The coach found its way slowly through the streets to some
+lodgings in Clerkenwell.  It was well the stranger did go, for his
+companion on arrival was hardly able to crawl upstairs to give a
+coherent account to his wife of what had happened.
+
+Zachariah Coleman, working man, printer, was in April 1814 about
+thirty years old.  He was employed in a jobbing office in the city,
+where he was compositor and pressman as well.  He had been married in
+January 1814 to a woman a year younger than himself, who attended the
+meeting-house at Hackney, whither he went on the Sunday.  He was a
+Dissenter in religion, and a fierce Radical in politics, as many of
+the Dissenters in that day were.  He was not a ranter or revivalist,
+but what was called a moderate Calvinist; that is to say, he held to
+Calvinism as his undoubted creed, but when it came to the push in
+actual practice he modified it.  In this respect he was inconsistent;
+but who is there who is not?  His theology probably had no more gaps
+in it than that of the latest and most enlightened preacher who
+denies miracles and affirms the Universal Benevolence.  His present
+biographer, from intimate acquaintance with the class to which
+Zachariah belonged, takes this opportunity to protest against the
+general assumption that the Calvinists of that day, or of any day,
+arrived at their belief by putting out their eyes and accepting
+blindly the authority of St. Paul or anybody else.  It may be
+questioned, indeed, whether any religious body has ever stood so
+distinctly upon the understanding and has used its intellect with
+such rigorous activity, as the Puritans, from whom Zachariah was a
+genuine descendant.  Even if Calvinism had been carved on tables of
+stone and handed down from heaven by the Almighty Hand, it would not
+have lived if it had not have found to agree more or less with the
+facts, and it was because it was a deduction from what nobody can
+help seeing that it was so vital, the Epistle to the Romans serving
+as the inspired confirmation of an experience.  Zachariah was a great
+reader of all kinds of books--a lover especially of Bunyan and
+Milton; as logical in his politics as in his religion; and he
+defended the execution of Charles the First on the ground that the
+people had just as much right to put a king to death as a judge had
+to order the execution of any other criminal.
+
+The courtship between Zachariah and the lady who became his wife had
+been short, for there could be no mistake, as they had known one
+another so long.  She was black-haired, with a perfectly oval face,
+always dressed with the most scrupulous neatness, and with a certain
+plain tightness which Zachariah admired.  She had exquisitely white
+and perfect teeth, a pale, clear complexion, and the reputation of
+being a most sensible woman.  She was not a beauty, but she was good-
+looking; the weak points in her face being her eyes, which were mere
+inexpressive optic organs, and her mouth, which, when shut, seemed
+too much shut, just as if it were compressed by an effort of the will
+or by a spring.  These, however, Zachariah thought minor matters, if,
+indeed, he ever noticed them.  "The great thing was, that she was"--
+sometimes this and sometimes that--and so it was settled.
+Unfortunately in marriage it is so difficult to be sure of what the
+great thing is, and what the little thing is, the little thing
+becoming so frightfully big afterwards!  Theologically, Mrs.
+Zachariah was as strict as her husband, and more so, as far as
+outward observance went, for her strictness was not tempered by those
+secular interests which to him were so dear.  She read little or
+nothing--nothing, indeed, on week-days, and even the Morning
+Chronicle, which Zachariah occasionally borrowed, was folded up when
+he had done with it and put under the tea-caddy till it was returned.
+On Sundays she took up a book in the afternoon, but she carefully
+prepared herself for the operation as though it were a sacramental
+service.  When the dinner-things were washed up, when the hearth was
+swept and the kettle on the fire, having put on her best Sunday
+dress, it was her custom to go to the window, always to the window,
+never to the fire--where she would open Boston's Fourfold State and
+hold it up in front of her with both hands.  This, however, did not
+last long, for on the arrival of the milkman the volume was replaced,
+and it was necessary to make preparations for tea.
+
+The hackney coach drove up to the house in Rosoman Street where
+Zachariah dwelt on the first floor.  He was too weak to go upstairs
+by himself, and he and his friend therefore walked into the front
+room together.  It was in complete order, although it was so early in
+the morning.  Everything was dusted; even the lower fire-bar had not
+a speck of ashes on it, and on the hob already was a saucepan in
+which Mrs. Coleman proposed to cook the one o'clock dinner.  On the
+walls were portraits of Sir Francis Burdett, Major Cartwright, and
+the mezzotint engraving of Sadler's Bunyan.  Two black silhouettes--
+one of Zachariah and the other of his wife--were suspended on each
+side of the mantelpiece.
+
+Mrs. Coleman was busily engaged in the bedroom, but hearing the
+footsteps, she immediately entered.  She was slightly taken aback at
+seeing Zachariah in such a plight, and uttered a little scream, but
+the bottle-green stranger, making her a profound bow, arrested her.
+
+"Pardon me, my dear madam, there is nothing seriously the matter.
+Your husband has had the misfortune to be the victim of a most
+blackguardly assault; but I am sure that, under your care, he will be
+all right in a day or two; and, with your permission, I take my
+leave."
+
+Mrs. Coleman was irritated.  The first emotion was not sympathy.
+Absolutely the first was annoyance at being seen without proper
+notice by such a fine-looking gentleman.  She had, however, no real
+cause for vexation under this head.  She had tied a white
+handkerchief over her hair, fastening it under her chin, as her
+manner was when doing her morning's work, and she had on her white
+apron; but she was trim and faultless, and the white handkerchief did
+but set off her black hair and marble complexion.  Her second
+emotion, too, was not sympathy.  Zachariah was at home at the wrong
+time.  Her ordinary household arrangements were upset.  He might
+possibly be ill, and then there would be a mess and confusion.  The
+thought of sickness was intolerable to her, because it "put
+everything out."  Rising up at the back of these two emotions came,
+haltingly, a third when she looked her husband in the face.  She
+could not help it, and she did really pity him.
+
+"I am sure it is very kind of you," she replied.
+
+Zachariah had as yet spoken no word, nor had she moved towards him.
+The stranger was departing.
+
+"Stop!" cried Zachariah, "you have not told me your name.  I am too
+faint to say how much I owe you for your protection and kindness."
+
+"Nonsense.  My name is Maitland--Major Maitland, 1A Albany.  Good-
+bye."
+
+He was at the top of the stairs, when he turned round, and looking at
+Mrs. Coleman, observed musingly, "I think I'll send my doctor, and,
+if you will permit me, will call in a day or two."
+
+She thanked him; he took her hand, politely pressed it to his lips,
+and rode off in the coach which had been waiting for him.
+
+"What has happened, my dear?  Tell me all about it," she inquired as
+she went back into the parlour, with just the least colour on her
+cheek, and perceptibly a little happier than she was five minutes
+before.  She did nothing more than put her hand on his shoulder, but
+he brightened immediately.  He told her the tale, and when it was
+over desired to lie down and to have some tea.
+
+Emotion number two returned to Mrs. Coleman immediately.  Tea at that
+time, the things having been all cleared away and washed up!  She did
+not, however, like openly to object, but she did go so far as to
+suggest that perhaps cold water would be better, as there might be
+inflammation.  Zachariah, although he was accustomed to give way,
+begged for tea; and it was made ready, but not with water boiled
+there.  She would not again put the copper kettle on the fire, as it
+was just cleaned, but she asked to be allowed to use that which
+belonged to the neighbour downstairs who kept the shop.  The tea-
+things were replaced when Zachariah had finished, and his wife
+returned to her duties, leaving him sitting in the straight-backed
+Windsor-chair, looking into the grate and feeling very miserable.
+
+In the afternoon Rosoman Street was startled to see a grand carriage
+stop at Zachariah's door, and out stepped the grand doctor, who,
+after some little hesitation and inquiry, made his way upstairs.
+Having examined our friend, he pronounced him free from all mortal or
+even serious injury--it was a case of contusion and shaken nerves,
+which required a little alterative medicine, and on the day after to-
+morrow the patient, although bruised and sore in the mouth, might go
+back to work.
+
+The next morning he was better, but nevertheless he was depressed.
+It was now three months since his wedding-day, and the pomp and
+beauty of the sunrise, gold and scarlet bars with intermediate lakes
+of softest blue, had been obscured by leaden clouds, which showed no
+break and let loose a cold drizzling rain.  How was it?  He often
+asked himself that question, but could obtain no satisfactory answer.
+Had anything changed?  Was his wife anything which he did not know
+her to be three months ago?  Certainly not.  He could not accuse her
+of passing herself off upon him with false pretences.  What she had
+always represented herself to be she was now.  There she stood
+precisely as she stood twelve months ago, when he asked her to become
+his wife, and he thought when she said "yes" that no man was more
+blessed than he.  It was, he feared, true he did not love her, nor
+she him; but why could not they have found that out before?  What a
+cruel destiny was this which drew a veil before his eyes and led him
+blindfold over the precipice!  He at first thought, when his joy
+began to ebb in February or March, that it would rise again, and that
+he would see matters in a different light; but the spring was here,
+and the tide had not turned.  It never would turn now, and he became
+at last aware of the sad truth--the saddest a man can know--that he
+had missed the great delight of existence.  His chance had come, and
+had gone.  Henceforth all that was said and sung about love and home
+would find no echo in him.  He was paralysed, dead in half of his
+soul, and would have to exist with the other half as well he could.
+He had done no wrong:  he had done his best; he had not sold himself
+to the flesh or the devil, and, Calvinist as he was, he was tempted
+at times to question the justice of such a punishment.  If he put his
+finger in the fire and got burnt, he was able to bow to the wisdom
+which taught him in that plain way that he was not to put his finger
+in the fire.  But wherein lay the beneficence of visiting a simple
+mistake--one which he could not avoid--with a curse worse than the
+Jewish curse of excommunication--"the anathema wherewith Joshua
+cursed Jericho; the curse which Elisha laid upon the children; all
+the curses which are written in the law.  Cursed be he by day, and
+cursed be he by night:  cursed be he in sleeping, and cursed be he in
+waking:  cursed in going out, and cursed in coming in."  Neither the
+wretched victim nor the world at large was any better for such a
+visitation, for it was neither remedial nor monitory.  Ah, so it is!
+The murderer is hung at Newgate, and if he himself is not improved by
+the process, perhaps a few wicked people are frightened; but men and
+women are put to a worse death every day by slow strangulation which
+endures for a lifetime, and, as far as we can see, no lesson is
+learned by anybody, and no good is done.
+
+Zachariah, however, did not give way to despair, for he was not a man
+to despair.  His religion was a part of himself.  He had immortality
+before him, in which he thanked God there was no marrying nor giving
+in marriage.  This doctrine, however, did not live in him as the
+other dogmas of his creed, for it was not one in which his intellect
+had such a share.  On the other hand, predestination was dear to him.
+God knew him as closely as He knew the angel next His throne, and had
+marked out his course with as much concern as that of the seraph.
+What God's purposes were he did not know.  He took a sort of sullen
+pride in not knowing, and he marched along, footsore and wounded, in
+obedience to the orders of his great Chief.  Only thirty years old,
+and only three months a husband, he had already learned renunciation.
+There was to be no joy in life?  Then he would be satisfied if it
+were tolerable, and he strove to dismiss all his dreams and do his
+best with what lay before him.  Oh my hero!  Perhaps somewhere or
+other--let us hope it is true--a book is kept in which human worth is
+duly appraised, and in that book, if such a volume there be, we shall
+find that the divinest heroism is not that of the man who, holding
+life cheap, puts his back against a wall, and is shot by Government
+soldiers, assured that he will live ever afterwards as a martyr and
+saint:  a diviner heroism is that of the poor printer, who, in dingy,
+smoky Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell, with forty years before him,
+determined to live through them, as far as he could, without a
+murmur, although there was to be no pleasure in them.  A diviner
+heroism is this, but divinest of all, is that of him who can in these
+days do what Zachariah did, and without Zachariah's faith.
+
+The next evening, just as Zachariah and his wife were sitting down to
+tea, there was a tap at the door, and in walked Major Maitland.  He
+was now in full afternoon costume, and, if not dandyish, was
+undeniably well dressed.  Making a profound bow to Mrs. Coleman, he
+advanced to the fireplace and instantly shook hands with Zachariah.
+
+"Well, my republican, you are better, although the beery loyalist has
+left his mark upon you."
+
+"Certainly, much better; but where I should have been, sir, if it had
+not been for you, I don't know."
+
+"Ah, well; it was an absolute pleasure to me to teach the blackguard
+that cheering a Bourbon costs something.  My God, though, a man must
+be a fool who has to be taught that!  I wonder what it HAS cost us.
+Why, I see you've got my friend, Major Cartwright, up there."
+
+Zachariah and his wife started a moment at what they considered the
+profane introduction of God's name; but it was not exactly swearing,
+and Major Maitland's relationship to them was remarkable.  They were
+therefore silent.
+
+"A true friend of the people," continued Maitland, "is Major
+Cartwright; but he does not go quite far enough to please me."
+
+"As for the people so-called," quoth Zachariah, "I doubt whether they
+are worth saving.  Look at the mob we saw the day before yesterday.
+I think not of the people.  But there is a people, even in these days
+of Ahab, whose feet may yet be on the necks of their enemies."
+
+"Why, you are an aristocrat," said Maitland, smiling; "only you want
+to abolish the present aristocracy and give us another.  You must not
+judge us by what you saw in Piccadilly, and while you are still
+smarting from that smasher on your eye.  London, I grant you, is not,
+and never was, a fair specimen.  But, even in London, you must not be
+deceived.  You don't know its real temper; and then, as to not being
+worth saving--why, the worse men are the more they want saving.
+However, we are both agreed about this--crew, Liverpool, the Prince
+Regent, and his friends."  A strong word was about to escape before
+"crew," but the Major saw that he was in a house where it would be
+out of place.  "I wish you'd join our Friends of the People.  We want
+two or three determined fellows like you.  We are all safe."
+
+"What are the 'Friends of the People'?"
+
+"Oh, it's a club of--a--good fellows who meet twice a week for a
+little talk about affairs.  Come with me next Friday and see."
+
+Zachariah hesitated a moment, and then consented.
+
+"All right; I'll fetch you."  He was going away, and picked up from
+the table a book he had brought with him.
+
+"By the way, you will not be at work till to-morrow.  I'll leave you
+this to amuse you.  It has not been out long.  Thirteen thousand
+copies were sold the first day.  It is the Corsair--Byron's Corsair.
+My God, it IS poetry and no mistake!  Not exactly, perhaps, in your
+line; but you are a man of sense, and if that doesn't make your heart
+leap in you I'm much mistaken.  Lord Byron is a neighbour of mine in
+the Albany.  I know him by sight.  I've waited a whole livelong
+morning at my window to see him go out.  So much the more fool you,
+you'll say.  Ah, well, wait till you have read the Corsair."
+
+The Major shook hands.  Mrs. Coleman, who had been totally silent
+during the interview, excepting when she asked him if he would join
+in a cup of tea--an offer most gracefully declined--followed him to
+the top of the stairs.  As before, he kissed her hand, made her a
+profound bow, and was off.  When she came back into the room the
+faint flush on the cheek was repeated, and there was the same unusual
+little rippling overflow of kindness to her husband.
+
+In the evening Zachariah took up the book.  Byron was not, indeed, in
+his line.  He took no interest in him, although, like every other
+Englishman, he had heard much about him.  He had passed on his way to
+Albemarle Street the entrance to the Albany.  Byron was lying there
+asleep, but Zachariah, although he knew he was within fifty yards of
+him, felt no emotion whatever.  This was remarkable, for Byron's
+influence, even in 1814, was singular, beyond that of all
+predecessors and successors, in the wideness of its range.  He was
+read by everybody.  Men and women who were accessible to no other
+poetry were accessible to his, and old sea-captains, merchants,
+tradesmen, clerks, tailors, milliners, as well as the best judges in
+the land repeated his verses by the page.
+
+Mrs. Coleman, having cleared away the tea-things, sat knitting till
+half-past six.  It was prayer-meeting night, and she never missed
+going.  Zachariah generally accompanied her, but he was not quite
+presentable, and stayed at home.  He went on with the Corsair, and as
+he read his heart warmed, and he unconsciously found himself
+declaiming several of the most glowing and eloquent lines aloud.  He
+was by nature a poet; essentially so, for he loved everything which
+lifted him above what is commonplace.  Isaiah, Milton, a storm, a
+revolution, a great passion--with these he was at home; and his
+education, mainly on the Old Testament, contributed greatly to the
+development both of the strength and weakness of his character.  For
+such as he are weak as well as strong; weak in the absence of the
+innumerable little sympathies and worldlinesses which make life
+delightful, and but too apt to despise and tread upon those gentle
+flowers which are as really here as the sun and the stars, and are
+nearer to us.  Zachariah found in the Corsair exactly what answered
+to his own inmost self, down to its very depths.  The lofty style,
+the scorn of what is mean and base, the courage--root of all virtue--
+that dares and evermore dares in the very last extremity, the love of
+the illimitable, of freedom, and the cadences like the fall of waves
+on a sea-shore were attractive to him beyond measure.  More than
+this, there was Love.  His own love was a failure, and yet it was
+impossible for him to indulge for a moment his imagination elsewhere.
+The difference between him and his wife might have risen to absolute
+aversion, and yet no wandering fancy would ever have been encouraged
+towards any woman living.  But when he came to Medora's song:
+
+
+"Deep in my soul that tender secret dwells,
+   Lonely and lost to light for evermore,
+Save when to thine my heart responsive swells,
+   Then trembles into silence as before."
+
+
+and more particularly the second verse:
+
+
+"There, in its centre, a sepulchral lamp
+   Burns the slow flame, eternal--but unseen;
+Which not the darkness of despair can damp,
+   Though vain its ray as it had never been."
+
+
+love again asserted itself.  It was not love for a person; perhaps it
+was hardly love so much as the capacity for love.  Whatever it may
+be, henceforth this is what love will be in him, and it will be fully
+maintained, though it knows no actual object.  It will manifest
+itself in suppressed force, seeking for exit in a thousand
+directions; sometimes grotesque perhaps, but always force.  It will
+give energy to expression, vitality to his admiration of the
+beautiful, devotion to his worship, enthusiasm to his zeal for
+freedom.  More than this, it will NOT make his private life
+unbearable by contrast; rather the reverse.  The vision of Medora
+will not intensify the shadow over Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell, but
+will soften it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II--OUTSIDE PIKE STREET
+
+
+
+On the Friday evening the Major called for Zachariah.  He had not yet
+returned, but his wife was at home.  The tea-things were ready, the
+kettle was on the hob, and she sat knitting at the window.  Her
+visitor knocked at the door; she rose, and he entered.  This time he
+was a little less formal, for after making his bow he shook her hand.
+She, too, was not quite so stiff, and begged him to be seated.
+
+"Upon my word, madam," he began, "if I were as well looked after as
+Mr. Coleman, I doubt if I should be so anxious as he is to change the
+existing order of things.  You would think there is some excuse for
+me if you were to see the misery and privation of my lodgings.
+Nobody cares a straw, and as for dust and dirt, they would drive you
+distracted."
+
+Mrs. Zachariah smiled, and shifted one of her little white-stockinged
+feet over the other.  She had on the neatest of sandals, with black
+ribbons, which crossed over the instep.  It was one of Zachariah's
+weak points, she considered, that he did not seem to care
+sufficiently for cleanliness, and when he came in he would sometimes
+put his black hand, before he had washed, on the white tea-cloth, or
+on the back of a chair, and leave behind him a patch of printer's
+ink.  It was bad enough to be obliged always to wipe the door-
+handles.
+
+"I do my best; but as for dirt, you cannot be so badly off in the
+Albany as we are in Clerkenwell.  Clerkenwell is very disagreeable,
+but we are obliged to live here."
+
+"If Clerkenwell is so bad, all the more honour to you for your
+triumph."
+
+"Oh, I don't know about honour; my husband says it is simply my
+nature."
+
+"Nature!  All the better.  I could never live with anybody who was
+always trying and trying and struggling.  I believe in Nature.  Don't
+you?"
+
+This was an abstract inquiry beyond Mrs. Zachariah's scope.  "It is
+some people's nature to like to be tidy," she contented herself with
+observing; "and others do not care for it."
+
+"Oh, perhaps it is because I am a soldier, and accustomed to order,
+that I care for it above everything."
+
+Mrs. Zachariah started for a moment.  She reflected.  She had
+forgotten it--that she was talking to an officer in His Majesty's
+service.
+
+"Have you seen much fighting, sir?"
+
+"Oh, well, for the matter of that, have had my share.  I was at
+Talavera, and suffer a good deal now in damp weather, from having
+slept so much in the open air."
+
+"Dear me, that is very hard!  My husband is rheumatic, and finds
+Tarver's embrocation do him more good than anything.  Will you try it
+if I give you some?"
+
+"With profound gratitude."  Mrs. Coleman filled an empty bottle, took
+a piece of folded brown paper out of the fireplace cupboard, untied a
+coil of twine, made up a compact little parcel, and gave it to the
+Major.
+
+"A thousand thanks.  If faith now can really cure, I shall be well in
+a week."
+
+Mrs. Zachariah smiled again.
+
+"Are you Dissenters?" he asked abruptly.
+
+"Yes.  Independents."
+
+"I am not surprised.  Ever since Cromwell's days you have always been
+on the side of liberty; but are you strict--I don't know exactly what
+to call it--go to the prayer-meetings--and so on?"
+
+"We are both members of the church, and Mr. Coleman is a deacon,"
+replied Mrs. Zachariah, with a gravity not hitherto observable.
+
+She looked out of the window, and saw him coming down the street.
+She placed the kettle nearer the fire, put the tea in the teapot, and
+sat down again.  He came upstairs, went straight into his bedroom,
+cleaned himself as much as possible, changed his coat, and entered.
+The Major, being pressed, consented to take tea, and Mrs. Zachariah
+was a cheerful and even talkative hostess, to the surprise of at
+least one member of the company.  She sat next to her husband, and
+the Major sat opposite.  Three silver spoons and silver sugar-tongs
+had been put on the table.  Ordinarily the spoons were pewter.
+Zachariah, fond of sugar, was in the habit of taking it with his
+fingers--a practice to which Mrs. Zachariah strongly objected, and
+with some reason.  It was dirty, and as his hands were none of the
+whitest, the neighbouring lumps became soiled, and acquired a flavour
+which did not add to their sweetness.  She had told him of it a score
+of times; but he did not amend, and seemed to think her particularity
+rather a vice than a virtue.  So it is that, as love gilds all
+defects, lack of love sees nothing but defect in what is truly
+estimable.  Notwithstanding the sugar-tongs, Zachariah--excusable,
+perhaps, this time, considering the warmth of the speech he was
+making against the late war--pushed them aside, and helped himself
+after the usual fashion.  A cloud came over Mrs. Zachariah's face;
+she compressed her lips in downright anger, pushed the tongs towards
+him with a rattle, and trod on his foot at the same time.  His
+oration came to an end; he looked round, became confused, and was
+suddenly silent; but the Major gallantly came to the rescue by
+jumping up to prevent Mrs. Zachariah from moving in order to put more
+water on the tea.
+
+"Excuse me, pray;" but as he had risen somewhat suddenly to reach the
+kettle, he caught the table-cloth on his knee, and in a moment his
+cup and saucer and the plate were on the floor in twenty pieces, and
+the tea running all over the carpet.  Zachariah looked at his wife,
+and expected to see her half frantic.  But no; though it was her best
+china, she stopped the Major's apologies, and assured him, with
+something almost like laughter, that it was not of the slightest
+consequence.  "Tea doesn't stain; I hope it has not gone on your
+coat;" and producing a duster from the cupboard, the evil, save the
+loss of the crockery, was remedied in a couple of minutes.
+
+At half-past seven o'clock the Major and Zachariah departed.  They
+walked across the top of Hatton Garden, and so onwards till they came
+to Red Lion Street.  Entering a low passage at the side of a small
+public-house, they went up some stairs, and found themselves opposite
+a door which was locked.  The Major gave three taps and then paused.
+A moment afterwards he tapped again twice; the lock was turned, and
+he was admitted.  Zachariah found himself in a spacious kind of loft.
+There was a table running down the middle, and round it were seated
+about a dozen men, most of whom were smoking and drinking beer.  They
+welcomed the Major with rappings, and he moved towards the empty
+chair at the head of the board.
+
+"You're late, chairman," said one.
+
+"Been to fetch a new comrade."
+
+"Is that the cove?  He looks all right.  Here's your health, guv'nor,
+and d---n all tyrants."  With that he took a pull at the beer.
+
+"Swear him," said the Major.
+
+A disagreeable-looking man with a big round nose, small red eyes,
+unshaven face, and slightly unsteady voice, rose, laid down his pipe,
+and beckoned to Zachariah, who advanced towards him.
+
+The Secretary--for he it was--produced a memorandum-book, and began
+with a stutter:
+
+"In the sacred name of--"
+
+"Stop!" cried Zachariah, "I don't swear."
+
+"That will do," shouted the Major across a hubbub which arose--
+"religious.  I'll answer for him:  let him sign; that's enough."
+
+"You ARE answerable," growled the Secretary "if he's a d---d spy
+we'll have his blood, that's all, and yours too, Major."  The Major
+took no notice, and Zachariah put his name in the book, the roll of
+the Red Lion Friends of the People.
+
+"Business, Mr. Secretary--the last minutes."
+
+The minutes were read, and an adjourned debate was then renewed on a
+motion to organise public meetings to petition in favour of
+Parliamentary Reform.  The reader must understand that politics in
+those days were somewhat different from the politics of fifty or
+sixty years later.  Bread was thirteenpence a quartern loaf; the
+national debt, with a much smaller population, was what it is now;
+everything was taxed, and wages were very low.  But what was most
+galling was the fact that the misery, the taxes, and the debt had
+been accumulated, not by the will of the people, but by a corrupt
+House of Commons, the property of borough-mongers, for the sake of
+supporting the Bourbons directly, but indirectly and chiefly the
+House of Hanover and the hated aristocracy.  There was also a
+scandalous list of jobs and pensions.  Years afterwards, when the
+Government was forced to look into abuses, the Reverend Thomas
+Thurlow, to take one example amongst others, was awarded, as
+compensation for the loss of his two offices, Patentee of Bankrupts
+and Keeper of Hanaper, the modest allowance annually until his death
+of 11,380 pounds 14s. 6d.  The men and women of that time, although
+there were scarcely any newspapers, were not fools, and there was not
+a Nottingham weaver who put a morsel of bread in his hungry belly who
+did not know that two morsels might have gone there if there were no
+impost on foreign corn to maintain rents, and if there were no
+interest to pay on money borrowed to keep these sacred kings and
+lords safe in their palaces and parks.  Opinion at the Red Lion
+Friends of the People Club was much divided.  Some were for
+demonstrations and agitation, whilst others were for physical force.
+The discussion went on irregularly amidst much tumult.
+
+"How long would they have waited over the water if they had done
+nothing but jaw?  They met together and tore down the Bastile, and
+that's what we must do."
+
+"That may be true," said a small white-faced man who neither smoked
+nor drank, "but what followed?  You don't do anything really till
+you've reasoned it out."
+
+"It's my belief, parson," retorted the other, "that you are in a d---
+d funk.  This is not the place for Methodists."
+
+"Order, order!" shouted the chairman.
+
+"I am not a Methodist," quietly replied the other; "unless you mean
+by Methodist a man who fears God and loves his Saviour.  I am not
+ashamed to own that, and I am none the worse for it as far as I know.
+As for being a coward, we shall see."
+
+The Secretary meanwhile had gone on with his beer.  Despite his
+notorious failing, he had been chosen for the post because in his
+sober moments he was quick with his pen.  He was not a working man;
+nay, it was said he had been at Oxford.  His present profession was
+that of attorney's clerk.  He got up and began a harangue about
+Brutus.
+
+"There's one way of dealing with tyrants--the old way, Mr. Chairman.
+Death to them all, say I; the short cut; none of your palaver; what's
+the use of palavering?"
+
+He was a little shaky, took hold of the rail of his chair, and as he
+sat down broke his pipe.
+
+Some slight applause followed; but the majority were either against
+him, or thought it better to be silent.
+
+The discussion continued irregularly, and Zachariah noticed that
+about half-a-dozen of those present took no part in it.  At about ten
+o'clock the chairman declared the meeting at an end; and it was quite
+time he did so, for the smoke and the drink had done their work.
+
+As Zachariah came out, a man stood by his side whom he had scarcely
+noticed during the evening.  He was evidently a shoemaker.  There was
+a smell of leather about him, and his hands and face were grimy.  He
+had a slightly turned-up nose, smallish eyes, half hidden under very
+black eyebrows, and his lips were thin and straight.  His voice was
+exceedingly high-pitched, and had something creaking in it like the
+sound of an ill-greased axle.  He spoke with emphasis, but not quite
+like an Englishman, was fond of alliteration, and often, in the
+middle of a sentence, paused to search for a word which pleased him.
+Having found it, the remainder of the sentence was poised and cast
+from him like a dart.  His style was a curious mixture of foreign
+imperfection and rhetoric--a rhetoric, however, by no means affected.
+It might have been so in another person, but it was not so in him.
+
+"Going east?" said he.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"If you want company, I'll walk with you.  What do you think of the
+Friends?"
+
+Zachariah, it will be borne in mind, although he was a Democrat, had
+never really seen the world.  He belonged to a religious sect.  He
+believed in the people, it is true, but it was a people of
+Cromwellian Independents.  He purposely avoided the company of men
+who used profane language, and never in his life entered a tavern.
+He did not know what the masses really were; for although he worked
+with his hands, printers were rather a superior set of fellows, and
+his was an old-established shop which took the best of its class.
+When brought actually into contact with swearers and drunkards as
+patriots and reformers he was more than a little shocked.
+
+"Not much," quoth he.
+
+"Not worse than our virtuous substitute for a sovereign?"
+
+"No, certainly."
+
+"You object to giving them votes, but is not the opinion of the
+silliest as good as that of Lord Sidmouth?"
+
+"That's no reason for giving them votes."
+
+"I should like to behold the experiment of a new form of
+misgovernment.  If we are to be eternally enslaved to fools and
+swindlers, why not a change?  We have had regal misrule and
+aristocratic swindling long enough."
+
+"Seriously, my friend," he continued, "study that immortal charter,
+the Declaration of the Rights of Man."
+
+He stopped in the street, and with an oratorical air repeated the
+well-known lines, "Men are born and always continue free, and equal
+in respect of their rights. . . .  Every citizen has a right, either
+by himself or by his representative, to a free voice in determining
+the necessity of public contributions, the appropriation of them, and
+their amount, mode of assessment, and duration."  He knew them by
+heart.  "It is the truth," he continued:  "you must come to that,
+unless you believe in the Divine appointment of dynasties.  There is
+no logical repose between Lord Liverpool and the Declaration.  What
+is the real difference between him and you?  None but a question of
+degree.  He does not believe in absolute monarchy, and stays at this
+point.  You go a little lower.  You are both alike.  How dare you
+say, 'My brother, I am more honest and more religious than you; pay
+me half-a-crown and I will spend it for your welfare'?  You cannot
+tell me that.  You know I should have a RIGHT to reject you.  I
+refuse to be coerced.  I prefer freedom to--felicity."
+
+Zachariah was puzzled.  He was not one of those persons who can see
+no escape from an argument and yet are not convinced; one of those
+happy creatures to whom the operations of the intellect are a joke--
+who, if they are shown that the three angles of a triangle are equal
+to two right angles, decline to disprove it, but act as if they were
+but one.  To Zachariah the appeal "Where will you stop?" was
+generally successful.  If his understanding told him he could not
+stop, he went on.  And yet it so often happens that if we do go on we
+are dissatisfied; we cannot doubt each successive step, but we doubt
+the conclusion.  We arrive serenely at the end, and lo! it is an
+absurdity which common sense, as we call it, demolishes with scoffs
+and laughter.
+
+They had walked down to Holborn in order to avoid the rather
+dangerous quarter of Gray's Inn Lane.  Presently they were overtaken
+by the Secretary, staggering under more liquor.  He did not recognise
+them, and rolled on.  The shoemaker instantly detached himself from
+Zachariah and followed the drunken official.  He was about to turn
+into a public-house, when his friend came up to him softly,
+abstracted a book which was sticking out of his pocket, laid hold of
+him by the arm, and marched off with him across the street and
+through Great Turnstile.
+
+Sunday came, and Zachariah and his wife attended the services at Pike
+Street Meeting-house, conducted by that worthy servant of God, the
+Reverend Thomas Bradshaw.  He was at that time preaching a series of
+sermons on the Gospel Covenant, and he enlarged upon the distinction
+between those with whom the covenant was made and those with whom
+there was none, save of judgment.  The poorest and the weakest, if
+they were sons of God, were more blessed than the strongest who were
+not.  These were nothing:  "they should go out like the smoke of a
+candle with an ill favour; whereas the weak and simple ones are
+upholden, and go from strength to strength, and increase with the
+increasings of God."  Zachariah was rather confused by what had
+happened during the week, and his mind, especially during the long
+prayer, wandered a good deal much to his discomfort.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III--THE THEATRE
+
+
+
+Major Maitland was very fond of the theatre, and as he had grown fond
+of Zachariah, and frequently called at his house, sometimes on
+business and sometimes for pleasure, he often asked his friend to
+accompany him.  But for a long time he held out.  The theatre and
+dancing in 1814 were an abomination to the Independents.  Since 1814
+they have advanced, and consequently they not only go to plays and
+dance like other Christians, but the freer, less prejudiced, and more
+enlightened encourage the ballet, spend their holidays in Paris, and
+study French character there.  Zachariah, however, had a side open to
+literature, and though he had never seen a play acted, he read plays.
+He read Shakespeare, and had often thought how wonderful one of his
+dramas must be on the stage.  So it fell out that at last he yielded,
+and it was arranged that Mrs. and Mr. Coleman should go with the
+Major to Drury Lane to see the great Edmund Kean in "Othello."  The
+day was fixed, and Mrs. Coleman was busy for a long time beforehand
+in furbishing up and altering her wedding-dress, so that she might
+make a decent figure.  She was all excitement, and as happy as she
+could well be.  For months Zachariah had not known her to be so
+communicative.  She seemed to take an interest in politics; she
+discussed with him the report that Bonaparte was mad, and Zachariah,
+on his part, told her what had happened to him during the day, and
+what he had read in the newspapers.  The Prince Regent had been to
+Oxford, and verses had been composed in his honour.  Mr. Bosanquet
+had recited to the Prince an ode, or something of the kind, and had
+ventured, after dilating on the enormous services rendered by kings
+in general to the community during the last twenty years, to warn
+them:
+
+
+"But ye yourselves must bow:  your praise be given
+To Him, the Lord of lords, your King in heaven."
+
+
+And Mrs. Zachariah, with a smile and unwonted wit, wondered whether
+Mr. Bosanquet would not be prosecuted for such treasonable
+sentiments.  Zachariah hardly knew what to make of his wife's gaiety,
+but he was glad.  He thought that perhaps he was answerable for her
+silence and coldness, and he determined at all costs to try and
+amend, and, however weary he might be when he came home at night,
+that he would speak and get her to speak too.
+
+The eventful evening arrived.  Zachariah was to get away as early as
+he could; the Major was to call at about six.  After Zachariah had
+washed and dressed, they were to take a hackney coach together.  At
+the appointed hour the Major appeared, and found Mrs. Zachariah
+already in her best clothes and tea ready.  She was charming--
+finished from the uttermost hair on her head to the sole of her
+slipper--and the dove-coloured, somewhat Quakerish tint of her
+wedding-gown suited her admirably.  Quarter-past six came, but there
+was no Zachariah, and she thought she would make the tea, as he was
+never long over his meals.  Half-past six, and he was not there.  The
+two now sat down, and began to listen to every sound.  The coach was
+ordered at a quarter to seven.
+
+"What shall we do?" said the Major.  "I cannot send you on and wait
+for him."
+
+"No.  How vexing it is!  It is just like--" and she stopped.
+
+"We must stay where we are, I suppose; it is rather a pity to miss
+being there when Kean first comes on."
+
+She was in a fretful agony of impatience.  She rose and looked out of
+the window, thought she heard somebody on the stairs, went outside on
+the landing, returned, walked up and down, and mentally cursed her
+husband, not profanely--she dared not do that--but with curses none
+the less intense.  Poor man! he had been kept by a job he had to
+finish.  She might have thought this possible, and, in fact, did
+think it possible; but it made no difference in the hatred which she
+permitted to rise against him.  At last her animosity relaxed, and
+she began to regard him with more composure, and even with pleasure.
+
+"Had you not better go and leave me here, so that we may follow?  I
+do not know what has happened, and I am sure he would be so sorry if
+you were to be disappointed."
+
+She turned her eyes anxiously towards the Major.
+
+"That will never do.  You know nothing about the theatre.  No! no!"
+
+She paused and stamped her little foot, and looked again out of the
+window.
+
+The coachman knocked at the door, and when she went down asked her
+how long he had to wait.
+
+She came back, and throwing herself on a chair, fairly gave way to
+her mortification, and cried out, "It is too bad--too bad!--it is,
+really."
+
+"I'll tell you what," replied the Major.  "Do you mind coming with
+me?  We will leave one of the tickets which I have bought, and we can
+add a message that he is to follow, and that we will keep his place
+for him.  Put on your bonnet at once, and I will scribble a line to
+him."
+
+Mrs. Zachariah did not see any other course open; her wrath once more
+disappeared, and in another moment she was busy before the looking-
+glass.  The note was written, and pinned to the ticket, both being
+stuck on the mantelpiece in a conspicuous place, so that Zachariah
+might see them directly he arrived.  In exuberant spirits she added
+in her own hand, "Make as much haste as you can, my dear," and
+subscribed her initials.  It was a tremendously hot afternoon and,
+what with the fire and the weather and the tea, the air was very
+oppressive.  She threw the bottom sash open a little wider therefore,
+and the two rolled off to Drury Lane.  As the door slammed behind
+them, the draught caught the ticket and note, and in a moment they
+were in the flames and consumed.
+
+Ten minutes afterwards in came Zachariah.  He had run all the way,
+and was dripping with perspiration.  He rushed upstairs, but there
+was nobody.  He stared round him, looked at the plates, saw that two
+had been there, rushed down again, and asked the woman in the shop:
+
+"Has Mrs. Coleman left any message?"
+
+"No.  She went off with that gentleman that comes here now and then;
+but she never said nothing to me," and Zachariah thought he saw
+something like a grin on her face.
+
+It may be as well to say that he never dreamed of any real injury
+done to him by his wife, and, in truth, the Major was incapable of
+doing him any.  He was gay, unorthodox, a man who went about in the
+world, romantic, republican, but he never would have condescended to
+seduce a woman, and least of all a woman belonging to a friend.  He
+paid women whom he admired all kinds of attentions, but they were
+nothing more than the gallantry of the age.  Although they were
+nothing, however, to him, they were a good deal more than nothing to
+Mrs. Zachariah.  The symbolism of an act varies much, and what may be
+mere sport to one is sin in another.  The Major's easy manners and
+very free courtesy were innocent so far as he was concerned; but when
+his rigid, religious companion in the hackney coach felt them sweet,
+and was better pleased with them than she had ever been with her
+husband's caresses, she sinned, and she knew that she sinned.
+
+What curiously composite creatures we are!  Zachariah for a moment
+was half pleased, for she had now clearly wronged him.  The next
+moment, however, he was wretched.  He took up the teapot; it was
+empty; the tea-caddy was locked up.  It was a mere trifle, but, as he
+said to himself, the merest trifles are important if they are
+significant.  He brooded, therefore, over the empty teapot and locked
+tea-caddy for fully five minutes.  She had not only gone without him,
+but had forgotten him.  At the end of the five minutes teapot and
+tea-caddy had swollen to enormous dimensions and had become the basis
+of large generalisations.  "I would rather," he exclaimed, "be
+condemned to be led out and hung if I knew one human soul would love
+me for a week beforehand and honour me afterwards, than live half a
+century and be nothing to any living creature."  Presently, however,
+it occurred to him that, although in the abstract this might be true
+yet at that particular moment he was a fool; and he made the best of
+his way to Drury Lane.  He managed to find his way into the gallery
+just as Kean came on the stage in the second scene of the first act.
+Far down below him, through the misty air, he thought he could see
+his wife and the Major; but he was in an instant arrested by the
+play.  It was all new to him; the huge building, the thousands of
+excited, eager faces, the lights, and the scenery.  He had not
+listened, moreover, to a dozen sentences from the great actor before
+he had forgotten himself and was in Venice, absorbed in the fortunes
+of the Moor.  What a blessing is this for which we have to thank the
+playwright and his interpreters, to be able to step out of the dingy,
+dreary London streets, with all their wretched corrosive cares, and
+at least for three hours to be swayed by nobler passions.  For three
+hours the little petty self, with all its mean surroundings,
+withdraws:  we breathe a different atmosphere, we are jealous, glad,
+weep, laugh with Shakespeare's jealousy, gladness, tears, and
+laughter!  What priggishness, too, is that which objects to
+Shakespeare on a stage because no acting can realise the ideal formed
+by solitary reading!  Are we really sure of it?  Are we really sure
+that Garrick or Kean or Siddons, with all their genius and study,
+fall short of a lazy dream in an arm-chair!  Kean had not only a
+thousand things to tell Zachariah--meanings in innumerable passages
+which had before been overlooked--but he gave the character of
+Othello such vivid distinctness that it might almost be called a
+creation.  He was exactly the kind of actor, moreover, to impress
+him.  He was great, grand, passionate, overwhelming with a like
+emotion the apprentice and the critic.  Everybody after listening to
+a play or reading a book uses it when he comes to himself again to
+fill his own pitcher, and the Cyprus tragedy lent itself to Zachariah
+as an illustration of his own Clerkenwell sorrows and as a gospel for
+them, although his were so different from those of the Moor.  Why did
+he so easily suspect Desdemona?  Is it not improbable that a man with
+any faith in woman, and such a woman, should proceed to murder on
+such evidence?  If Othello had reflected for a moment, he would have
+seen that everything might have been explained.  Why did he not
+question, sift, examine, before taking such tremendous revenge?--and
+for the moment the story seemed unnatural.  But then he considered
+again that men and women, if they do not murder one another, do
+actually, in everyday life, for no reason whatever, come to wrong
+conclusions about each other; utterly and to the end of their lines
+misconstrue and lose each other.  Nay, it seems to be a kind of
+luxury to them to believe that those who could and would love them
+are false to them.  We make haste to doubt the divinest fidelity; we
+drive the dagger into each other, and we smother the Desdemona who
+would have been the light of life to us, not because of any deadly
+difference or grievous injury, but because we idly and wilfully
+reject.
+
+The tale, evermore is:
+
+
+      "Of one whose hand,
+Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
+Richer than all his tribe."
+
+
+So said Zachariah to himself as he came out into Drury Lane and
+walked eastwards.  His wife and the Major were back before him.  The
+Major did not wait but returned at once to Albany Street, leaving
+Mrs. Coleman to sit up for her husband.  He was not hurrying himself,
+and could not free himself from the crowd so easily as those who left
+from below.  The consequence was that he was a full half-hour behind
+her, and she was not particularly pleased at having been kept so long
+out of her bed.  When she let him in all that she said was, "Oh, here
+you are at last," and immediately retired.  Strange to say, she
+forgot all about family worship--never before omitted, however late
+it might be.  If she had taken the trouble to ask him whether he had
+seen her message and the ticket so much might have been cleared up.
+Of course he, too, ought to have spoken to her; it was the natural
+thing to do, and it was extraordinary that he did not.  But he let
+her go; she knelt down by her bed, prayed her prayer to her God, and
+in five minutes was asleep.  Zachariah ten minutes afterwards prayed
+his prayer to HIS God, and lay down, but not to sleep.  No sooner was
+his head on his pillow than the play was before his eyes, and
+Othello, Desdemona, and Iago moved and spoke again for hours.  Then
+came the thoughts with which he had left the theatre and the
+revulsion on reaching home.  Burning with excitement at what was a
+discovery to him, he had entered his house with even an enthusiasm
+for his wife, and an impatient desire to try upon her the experiment
+which he thought would reveal so much to him and make him wealthy for
+ever.  But when she met him he was struck dumb.  He was shut up again
+in his old prison, and what was so hopeful three hours before was all
+vanity.  So he struggled through the short night, and, as soon as he
+could, rose and went out.  This was a frequent practice, and his wife
+was not surprised when she woke to find he had gone.  She was in the
+best of spirits again, and when he returned, after offering him the
+usual morning greeting, she inquired at once in what part of the
+theatre he was, and why he had not used the ticket.
+
+"We waited for you till the last moment; we should have been too late
+if we had stayed an instant longer, and I made sure you would come
+directly."
+
+"Ticket--what ticket?  I saw no ticket?"
+
+"We left it on the mantelpiece, and there was a message with it."
+
+His face brightened, but he said nothing.  A rush of blood rose to
+his head; he moved towards her and kissed her.
+
+"What a wretch you must have thought me!" she said half laughingly,
+as she instantly smoothed her hair again, which he had ruffled.  "But
+what has become of the ticket?"
+
+"Fell in the fire most likely; the window was open when I came in,
+and the draught blew the picture over the mantelpiece nearly off its
+hook."
+
+The breakfast was the happiest meal they had had for months.
+Zachariah did his best to overcome his natural indisposition to talk.
+Except when he was very much excited, he always found conversation
+with his wife too difficult on any save the most commonplace topics,
+although he was eloquent enough in company which suited him.  She
+listened to him, recalling with great pleasure the events of the
+preceding evening.  She was even affectionate--affectionate for her--
+and playfully patted his shoulder as he went out, warning him not to
+be so late again.  What was the cause of her gaiety?  Was she
+thinking improperly of the Major?  No.  If she had gone with
+Zachariah alone to the theatre would she have been so cheerful?  No.
+Did she really think she loved her husband better?  Yes.  The human
+heart, even the heart of Mrs. Coleman, is beyond our analysis.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV--A FRIEND OF THE PEOPLE
+
+
+
+The Friends of the People continued their meetings, and Zachariah
+attended regularly, although, after about three months' experience,
+he began to doubt whether any advance was being made.  The immediate
+subject of discussion now was a projected meeting in Spitalfields,
+and each branch of the Society was to organise its own contingent.
+All this was perfectly harmless.  There was a good deal of wild talk
+occasionally; but it mostly came from Mr. Secretary, especially when
+he had had his beer.  One evening he had taken more than enough, and
+was decidedly staggering as he walked down Lamb's Conduit Street
+homewards.  Zachariah was at some distance, and in front of him, in
+close converse, were his shoemaking friend, the Major, and a third
+man whom he could not recognise.  The Secretary swayed himself across
+Holborn and into Chancery Lane, the others following.  Presently they
+came up to him, passed him, and turned off to the left, leaving him
+to continue his troubled voyage southwards.  The night air, however,
+was a little too much for him, and when he got to Fleet Street he was
+under the necessity of supporting himself against a wall.  He became
+more and more seditious as he became more and more muddled, so that
+at last he attracted the attention of a constable who laid hold of
+him and locked him up for the night.  In the morning he was very much
+surprised to find himself in a cell, feeling very miserable, charged
+with being drunk and disorderly, and, what was ten times worse, with
+uttering blasphemy against the Prince Regent.  It may as well be
+mentioned here that the greatest precautions had been taken to
+prevent any knowledge by the authorities of the proceedings of the
+Friends of the People.  The Habeas Corpus Act was not yet suspended,
+but the times were exceedingly dangerous.  The Friends, therefore,
+never left in a body nor by the same door.  Watch was always kept
+with the utmost strictness, not only on the stairs, but from a window
+which commanded the street.  No written summons was ever sent to
+attend any meeting, ordinary or extraordinary.  Mr. Secretary,
+therefore, was much disconcerted when he found that his pockets were
+emptied of all his official documents.  He languished in his cell
+till about twelve o'clock, very sick and very anxious, when he was
+put into a cab, and, to his great surprise, instead of being taken to
+a police court, was carried to Whitehall.  There he was introduced to
+an elderly gentleman, who sat at the head of a long table covered
+with green cloth.  A younger man, apparently a clerk, sat at a
+smaller table by the fire and wrote, seeming to take no notice
+whatever of what was going on.  Mr. Secretary expected to hear
+something about transportation, and to be denounced as an enemy of
+the human race; but he was pleasantly disappointed.
+
+"Sorry to see a respectable person like you in such a position."
+
+Mr. Secretary wondered how the gentleman knew he was respectable; but
+was silent.  He was not now in an eloquent or seditious humour.
+
+"You may imagine that we know you, or we should not have taken the
+trouble to bring you here.  We should merely have had you committed
+for trial."
+
+The Secretary thought of his empty pockets.  In truth it was the
+Major who had emptied them before he crossed Holborn; but of course
+he suspected the constable.
+
+"You must be aware that you have exposed yourself to heavy penalties.
+I prefer, however, to think of you as a well-meaning but misguided
+person.  What good do you think you can do?  I can assure you that
+the Government are fully aware of the distress which prevails, and
+will do all they can to alleviate it.  If you have any grievances,
+why not seek their redress by legitimate and constitutional means?"
+
+The Secretary was flattered.  He had never been brought face to face
+with one of the governing classes before.  He looked round;
+everything was so quiet, so pacific; there were no fetters nor
+thumbscrews; the sun was lighting up the park; children were playing
+in it, and the necessity for a revolution was not on that particular
+spot quite apparent.
+
+A messenger now entered carrying some sandwiches and a little
+decanter of wine on a tray, covered with the whitest of cloths.
+
+"It struck me," continued the official, taking a sandwich and pouring
+out a glass of wine, "when I heard of your arrest, that I should like
+myself to have a talk with you.  We really are most loth to proceed
+to extremities. and you have, I understand, a wife and children.  I
+need not tell you what we could do with you if we liked.  Now, just
+consider, my friend.  I don't want you to give up one single
+principle; but is it worth your while to be sent to jail and to have
+your home broken up merely because you want to achieve your object in
+the wrong way, and in a foolish way?  Keep your principles; we do not
+object; but don't go out into the road with them.  And you, as an
+intelligent man, must see that you will not get what you desire by
+violence as soon as you will by lawful methods.  Is the difference
+between us worth such a price as you will have to pay?"
+
+The Secretary hesitated; he could not speak; he was very faint and
+nervous.
+
+"Ah, you've had nothing to eat, I dare say."
+
+The bell was rung, and was answered immediately.
+
+"Bring some bread and cheese and beer."
+
+The bread and cheese and beer were brought.
+
+"Sit down there and have something; I will go on with my work, and we
+will finish our talk afterwards."
+
+The Secretary could not eat much bread and cheese, but he drank the
+beer greedily.
+
+When he had finished the clerk left the room.  The Commissioner--for
+he was one of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury--followed
+him to the door, closed it, not without satisfying himself that the
+constable was at his post outside, returned to his seat, opened his
+drawer, saw that a pistol and five guineas were there, and then
+began:
+
+"Now, look here, my dear sir, let me speak plainly with you and come
+to an understanding.  We have made inquiries about you; we believe
+you to be a good sort of fellow, and we are not going to prosecute
+you.  We do hope, however, that, should you hear anything which is--
+well--really treasonable, you will let us know.  Treason, I am sure,
+is as dreadful to you as it is to me.  The Government, as I said
+before, are most desirous of helping those who really deserve it; and
+to prove this, as I understand you are out of work, just accept that
+little trifle."
+
+The guineas were handed to Mr. Secretary, who looked at them
+doubtfully.  With the beer his conscience had returned, and he broke
+out:
+
+"If you want me to be a d---d spy, d---d if I do!"  The Commissioner
+was not in the least disconcerted.  "Spy, my man!--who mentioned the
+word?  The money was offered because you haven't got a sixpence.
+Haven't I told you you are not required to give up a single
+principle?  Have I asked you to denounce a single companion?  All I
+have requested you to do, as an honest citizen, is to give me a hint
+if you hear of anything which would be as perilous to you as to me."
+
+The Secretary after his brief explosion felt flaccid.  He was subject
+to violent oscillations, and he looked at the five guineas again.  He
+was very weak--weak naturally, and weaker through a long course of
+alcohol.  He was, therefore, prone to obscure, crooked, silly
+devices, at any rate when he was sober.  Half drunk he was very bold;
+but when he had no liquor inside him he could NOT do what was
+straight.  He had not strength sufficient, if two courses were open,
+to cast aside the one for which there were the fewer and less
+conclusive reasons, and to take the proper path, as if no other were
+before him.  A sane, strong person is not the prey of reasons:  a
+person like Mr. Secretary can never free himself from them, and after
+he has arrived at some kind of determination is still uncertain and
+harks back.  With the roar of the flames of the Cities of the Plain
+in his ears, he stops, and is half afraid that it was his duty after
+all to stay and try and put them out.  The Secretary, therefore,
+pondered again.  The money was given on no condition that was worth
+anything.  For aught he knew, the Commissioner had his books and
+papers already.  He could take the guineas and be just as free as he
+was before.  He could even give a part of it to the funds of the
+Friends.  There obtruded, moreover, visions of Newgate, and his hands
+slowly crept to the coins.
+
+"I am a Radical, sir, and I don't mind who knows it."
+
+"Nothing penal in that.  Every man has a right to his own political
+creed."
+
+The fingers crept closer and touched the gold.
+
+"If I thought you wanted to bribe me, I'd rot before I had anything
+to do with you."
+
+The Commissioner smiled.  There was no necessity to say anything
+more, for the guineas were disappearing and finally, though slowly,
+chinked down into Mr. Secretary's pocket.
+
+The Commissioner held out his hand.
+
+The Secretary before he took it looked loftier than ever.
+
+"I hope you understand me, sir, clearly."
+
+"I DO understand you clearly."
+
+The Secretary shook the hand; the Commissioner went with him to the
+door.
+
+"Show this gentleman downstairs."
+
+The constable, without a look of surprise, went downstairs, and Mr.
+Secretary found himself in the street.
+
+Mr. Commissioner drank another glass of wine, and then pencilled
+something in a little memorandum book, which he put under the pistol.
+The drawer had two locks, and he carefully locked both with two
+little keys attached to a ribbon which he wore round his neck.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V--THE HORIZON WIDENS
+
+
+
+Jean Caillaud, shoemaker, whom we have met before, commonly called
+John Kaylow, friend of the Major and member of the Society of the
+Friends of the People, was by birth a Frenchman.  He had originally
+come to this country in 1795, bringing with him a daughter, Pauline,
+about four or five years old.  Why he came nobody knew, nor did
+anybody know who was the mother of the child.  He soon obtained
+plenty of employment, for he was an admirable workman, and learned to
+speak English well.  Pauline naturally spoke both English and French.
+Her education was accomplished with some difficulty, though it was
+not such a task as it might have been, because Jean's occupation kept
+him at home; his house being in one of the streets in that
+complication of little alleys and thoroughfares to most Londoners
+utterly unknown; within the sound of St. Bride's nevertheless, and
+lying about a hundred yards north of Fleet Street.  If the explorer
+goes up a court nearly opposite Bouverie Street, he will emerge from
+a covered ditch into one that is opened, about six feet wide.
+Presently the ditch ends in another and wider ditch running east and
+west.  The western one turns northward, and then westward again,
+roofs itself over, squeezes itself till it becomes little less than a
+rectangular pipe, and finally discharges itself under an oil and
+colourman's house in Fetter Lane.  The eastern arm, strange to say,
+suddenly expands, and one side of it, for no earthly reason, is set
+back with an open space in front of it, partitioned by low palings.
+Immediately beyond, as if in a fit of sudden contrition for such
+extravagance, the passage or gutter contracts itself to its very
+narrowest and, diving under a printing-office shows itself in Shoe
+Lane.  The houses in these trenches were not by any means of the
+worst kind.  In the aforesaid expansion they were even genteel, or at
+any rate aspired to be so, and each had its own brass knocker and
+kept its front-door shut with decent sobriety and reticence.  On the
+top floor of one of these tenements lodged Jean Caillaud and Pauline.
+They had three rooms between them; one was Jean's bedchamber, one
+Pauline's, and one was workroom and living-room, where Jean made
+ball-slippers and light goods--this being his branch of the trade--
+and Pauline helped him.  The workroom faced the north, and was
+exactly on a level with an innumerable multitude of red chimney-pots
+pouring forth stinking smoke which, for the six winter months,
+generally darkened the air during the whole day.  But occasionally
+Nature resumed her rights, and it was possible to feel that sky,
+stars, sun, and moon still existed, and were not blotted out by the
+obscurations of what is called civilised life.  There came,
+occasionally, wild nights in October or November, with a gale from
+the south-west and then, when almost everybody had gone to bed and
+the fires were out, the clouds, illuminated by the moon, rushed
+across the heavens, and the Great Bear hung over the dismal waste of
+smutty tiles with the same solemnity with which it hangs over the
+mountains, the sea, or the desert.  Early in the morning, too, in
+summer, between three and four o'clock in June, there were sights to
+be seen worth seeing.  The distance was clear for miles, and the
+heights of Highgate were visible, proclaiming the gospel of a beyond
+and beyond even to Kent's Court, and that its immediate surroundings
+were mercifully not infinite.  The light made even the nearest bit of
+soot-grimed, twisted, rotten brickwork beautiful, and occasionally,
+but at very rare intervals, the odour of London was vanquished, and a
+genuine breath from the Brixton fields was able to find its way
+uncontaminated across the river.  Jean and Pauline were, on the
+whole, fond of the court.  They often thought they would prefer the
+country, and talked about it; but it is very much to be doubted, if
+they had been placed in Devonshire, whether they would not have
+turned back uneasily after a time to their garret.  They both liked
+the excitement of the city, and the feeling that they were so near to
+everything that was stirring in men's minds.  The long stretch of
+lonely sea-shore is all very well, very beautiful, and, maybe, very
+instructive to many people; but to most persons half-an-hour's
+rational conversation is much more profitable.  Pauline was not a
+particularly beautiful girl.  Her hair was black, and, although there
+was a great deal of it, it was coarse and untidy.  Her complexion was
+sallow--not as clear as it might be--and underneath the cheek-bones
+there were slight depressions.  She had grown up without an
+attachment, so far as her father knew, and indeed so far as she knew.
+She had one redeeming virtue--redeeming especially to Jean, who was
+with her alone so much.  She had an intellect, and it was one which
+sought for constant expression; consequently she was never dull.  If
+she was dull, she was ill.  She had none of that horrible mental
+constriction which makes some English women so insupportably tedious.
+The last thing she read, the last thing she thought, came out with
+vivacity and force, and she did not need the stimulus of a great
+excitement to reveal what was in her.  Living as she did at work side
+by side with her father all day, she knew all his thoughts and read
+all his books.  Neither of them ever went to church.  They were not
+atheists, nor had they entirely pushed aside the religious questions
+which torment men's minds.  They believed in what they called a
+Supreme Being, whom they thought to be just and good; but they went
+no further.  They were revolutionary, and when Jean joined the
+Friends of the People, he and the Major and one other man became a
+kind of interior secret committee, which really directed the affairs
+of the branch.  Companions they had none, except the Major and one or
+two compatriots; but they were drawn to Zachariah, and Zachariah was
+drawn to them, very soon after he became a member of the Society.
+The first time he went to Kent's Court with Jean was one night after
+a meeting.  The two walked home together, and Zachariah turned in for
+an hour, as it was but ten o'clock.  There had been a grand
+thanksgiving at St. Paul's that day.  The Prince Regent had returned
+thanks to Almighty God for the restoration of peace.  The Houses of
+Parliament were there, with the Foreign Ambassadors, the City
+Corporation, the Duke of Wellington, Field-Marshal Blucher,
+peeresses, and society generally.  The Royal Dukes, Sussex, Kent,
+York, and Gloucester, were each drawn by six horses and escorted by a
+separate party of the Guards.  It took eight horses to drag the
+Prince himself to divine service, and he, too, was encompassed by
+soldiers.  Arrived at the cathedral, he was marshalled to a kind of
+pew surmounted by a lofty crimson-and-gold canopy.  There he sat
+alone, worshipped his Creator, and listened to a sermon by the Bishop
+of Chester.  Neither Jean nor Pauline troubled themselves to go out,
+and indeed it would not have been of much use if they had tried; for
+it was by no means certain that Almighty God, who had been so kind as
+to get rid of Napoleon, would not permit a row in the streets.
+Consequently, every avenue which led to the line of the procession
+was strictly blocked.  They heard the music from a distance, and
+although they both hated Bonaparte, it had not a pleasant sound in
+their ears.  It was the sound of triumph over Frenchmen, and,
+furthermore, with all their dislike to the tyrant, they were proud of
+his genius.
+
+Walking towards Clerkenwell that evening, the streets being clear,
+save for a number of drunken men and women, who were testifying to
+the orthodoxy of their religious and political faith by rolling about
+the kennel in various stages of intoxication, Jean pressed Zachariah
+to go upstairs with him.  Pauline had prepared supper for herself and
+her father, and a very frugal meal it was, for neither of them could
+drink beer nor spirits, and they could not afford wine.  Pauline and
+Zachariah were duly introduced, and Zachariah looked around him.  The
+room was not dirty, but it was extremely unlike his own.  Shoe-making
+implements and unfinished jobs lay here and there without being "put
+away."  An old sofa served as a seat, and on it were a pair of lasts,
+a bit of a French newspaper, and a plateful of small onions and
+lettuce, which could not find a place on the little table.
+Zachariah, upstairs in Rosoman Street, had often felt just as if he
+were in his Sunday clothes and new boots.  He never could make out
+what was the reason for it.  There are some houses in which we are
+always uncomfortable.  Our freedom is fettered, and we can no more
+take our ease in them than in a glass and china shop.  We breathe
+with a sense of oppression, and the surroundings are like repellant
+chevaux de frise.  Zachariah had no such feelings here.  There was
+disorder, it is true; but, on the other hand, there was no polished
+tea-caddy to stare at him and claim equal rights against him, defying
+him to disturb it.  He was asked to sit upon the sofa, and in so
+doing upset the plateful of salad upon the floor.  Pauline smiled,
+was down upon her knees in an instant, before he could prevent her,
+picked up the vegetables and put them back again.  To tell the truth,
+they were rather dirty; and she, therefore, washed them in a hand-
+basin.  Zachariah asked her if she had been out that day.
+
+"I?--to go with the Lord Mayor and bless the good God for giving us
+back Louis Bourbon?  No Mr. Coleman; if the good God did give us
+Louis back again, I wouldn't bless Him for it, and I don't think He
+had much to do with it.  So there were two reasons why I didn't go."
+
+Zachariah was a little puzzled, a little shocked, and a little out of
+his element.
+
+"I thought you might have gone to see the procession and hear the
+music."
+
+"I hate processions.  Whenever I see one, and am squeezed and
+trampled on just because those fine people may ride by, I am
+humiliated and miserable.  As for the music, I hate that too.  It is
+all alike, and might as well be done by machinery.  Come, you are
+eating nothing.  What conspiracy have you and my father hatched to-
+night?"
+
+"Conspiracy!" said Jean.  "Who are the conspirators?  Not we.  The
+conspirators are those thieves who have been to St. Paul's."
+
+"To give thanks," said Pauline.  "If I were up there in the sky,
+shouldn't I laugh at them.  How comical it is!  Did they give thanks
+for Austerlitz or Jena?"
+
+"That's about the worst of it," replied Jean.  "It is one vast plot
+to make the people believe lies.  I shouldn't so much mind their
+robbing the country of its money to keep themselves comfortable, but
+what is the meaning of their Te Deums?  I tell you again,"--and he
+repeated the words with much emphasis--"it is a vast plot to make men
+believe a lie.  I abhor them for that ten times more than for taking
+my money to replace Louis."
+
+"Oh," resumed Pauline, "IF I were only up in the sky for an hour, I
+would have thundered and lightened on them just as they got to the
+top of Ludgate Hill, and scattered a score or so of them.  I wonder
+if they would have thanked Providence for their escape?  O father,
+such a joke!  The Major told me the other day of an old gentleman he
+knew who was riding along in his carriage.  A fireball fell and
+killed the coachman.  The old gentleman, talking about it afterwards,
+said that "PROVIDENTIALLY it struck the box-seat."
+
+Zachariah, although a firm believer in his faith, and not a coward,
+was tempted to be silent.  He was heavy and slow in action, and this
+kind of company was strange to him.  Furthermore, Pauline was not an
+open enemy, and notwithstanding her little blasphemies, she was
+attractive.  But then he remembered with shame that he was ordered to
+testify to the truth wherever he might be, and unable to find
+anything of his own by which he could express himself, a text of the
+Bible came into his mind, and, half to himself, he repeated it aloud:
+
+"I form the light and create darkness:  I make peace and create evil;
+I the Lord do all these things."
+
+"What is that?" said Jean.  "Repeat it."
+
+Zachariah slowly repeated it.  He had intended to add to it something
+which might satisfy his conscience and rebuke Pauline, but he could
+not.
+
+"Whence is that?" said Jean.
+
+"From the Bible; give me one and I will show it to you."
+
+There was no English Bible in the house.  It was a book not much
+used; but Pauline presently produced a French version, and Jean read
+the passage--"Qui forme la lumiere, et qui cree les tenebres; qui
+fait la paix, et qui cree l'adversite; c'est moi, l'Eternel, qui fais
+toutes les choses la."
+
+Pauline bent over her father and read it again.
+
+"Qui cree l'adversite," she said.  "Do you believe that?"
+
+"If it is there I do," said Zachariah.
+
+"Well, I don't."
+
+"What's adversity to hell fire?  If He made hell-fire, why not
+adversity?  Besides, if He did not, who did?"
+
+"Don't know a bit, and don't mean to bother myself about it."
+
+"Right!" broke in Jean--"right, my child; bother--that is a good
+word.  Don't bother yourself about anything when--bothering will not
+benefit.  There is so much in the world which will--bear a
+botheration out of which some profit will arise.  Now, then, clear
+the room, and let Zachariah see your art."
+
+The plates and dishes were all put in a heap and the table pushed
+aside.  Pauline retired for a few moments, and presently came back in
+a short dress of black velvet, which reached about half-way down from
+the knee to the ankle.  It was trimmed with red; she had stuck a red
+artificial flower in her hair, and had on a pair of red stockings
+with dancing slippers, probably of her own make.  Over her shoulders
+was a light gauzy shawl.  Her father took his station in a corner,
+and motioned to Zachariah to compress himself into another.  By dint
+of some little management and piling up the chairs an unoccupied
+space of about twelve feet square was obtained.  Pauline began
+dancing, her father accompanying her with an oboe.  It was a very
+curious performance.  It was nothing like ordinary opera-dancing, and
+equally unlike any movement ever seen at a ball.  It was a series of
+graceful evolutions with the shawl which was flung, now on one
+shoulder and now on the other, each movement exquisitely resolving
+itself, with the most perfect ease, into the one following, and
+designed apparently to show the capacity of a beautiful figure for
+poetic expression.  Wave fell into wave along every line of her body,
+and occasionally a posture was arrested, to pass away in an instant
+into some new combination.  There was no definite character in the
+dance beyond mere beauty.  It was melody for melody's sake.  A
+remarkable change, too, came over the face of the performer.  She
+looked serious; but it was not a seriousness produced by any strain.
+It was rather the calm which is found on the face of the statue of a
+goddess.  In none of her attitudes was there a trace of
+coquettishness, although some were most attractive.  One in
+particular was so.  She held a corner of the shawl high above her
+with her right hand, and her right foot was advanced so as to show
+her whole frame extended excepting the neck; the head being bent
+downward and sideways.
+
+Suddenly Jean ceased; Pauline threw the shawl over both her
+shoulders, made a profound curtsey, and retired; but in five minutes
+she was back again in her ordinary clothes.  Zachariah was in sore
+confusion.  He had never seen anything of the kind before.
+
+He had been brought up in a school which would have considered such
+an exhibition as the work of the devil.  He was distressed too to
+find that the old Adam was still so strong within him that he
+detected a secret pleasure in what he had seen.  He would have liked
+to have got up and denounced Jean and Pauline, but somehow he could
+not.  His great great grandfather would have done it, beyond a doubt,
+but Zachariah sat still.
+
+"Did you ever perform in public?" he asked.
+
+"No.  I was taught when I was very young; but I have never danced
+except to please father and his friends."
+
+This was a relief, and some kind of an excuse.  He felt not quite
+such a reprobate; but again he reflected that when he was looking at
+her he did not know that she was not in a theatre every night in the
+week.  He expected that Jean would offer some further explanation of
+the unusual accomplishment which his daughter had acquired; but he
+was silent, and Zachariah rose to depart, for it was eleven o'clock.
+Jean apparently was a little restless at the absence of approval on
+Zachariah's part, and at last he said abruptly:
+
+"What do you think of her?"
+
+Zachariah hesitated, and Pauline came to the rescue.  "Father, what a
+shame!  Don't put him in such an awkward position."
+
+"It was very wonderful," stammered Zachariah, "but we are not used to
+that kind of thing."
+
+"Who are the 'we'?" said Pauline.  "Ah, of course you are Puritans.
+I am a--what do you call it?--a daughter, no, that isn't it--a child
+of the devil.  I won't have that though.  My father isn't the devil.
+Even YOU wouldn't say that, Mr. Coleman.  Ah, I have no business to
+joke, you look so solemn; you think my tricks are satanic; but what
+was it in your book, 'C'est moi, l'Eternel, qui fais toutes les
+choses la'?" and as Zachariah advanced to the doors he made him a bow
+with a grace which no lady of quality could have surpassed.
+
+He walked home with many unusual thoughts.  It was the first time he
+had ever been in the company of a woman of any liveliness of
+temperament, and with an intellect which was on equal terms with that
+of a man.  In his own Calvinistic Dissenting society the pious women
+who were members of the church took little or no interest in the
+mental life of their husband.  They read no books, knew nothing of
+politics, were astonishingly ignorant, and lived in their household
+duties.  To be with a woman who could stand up against him was a new
+experience.  Here was a girl to whom every thought her father
+possessed was familiar!
+
+But there was another experience.  From his youth upwards he had been
+trained with every weapon in the chapel armoury, and yet he now found
+himself as powerless as the merest novice to prevent the very sinful
+occupation of dwelling upon every attitude of Pauline, and outlining
+every one of her limbs.  Do what he might, her image was for ever
+before his eyes, and reconstructed itself after every attempt to
+abolish it, just as a reflected image in a pool slowly but inevitably
+gathers itself together again after each disturbance of the water.
+When he got home, he found, to his surprise, that his wife was still
+sitting up.  She had been to the weekly prayer-meeting, and was not
+in a very pleasant temper.  She was not spiteful, but unusually
+frigid.  She felt herself to be better than her husband, and she
+asked him if he could not arrange in future that his political
+meetings might not interfere with his religious duties.
+
+"Your absence, too, was noticed, and Mrs. Carver asked me how it was
+that Mr. Coleman could let me go home alone.  She offered to tell Mr.
+Carver to come home with me; but I refused."
+
+Delightfully generous of Mrs. Carver!  That was the sort of kindness
+for which she and many of her Pike Street friends were so
+distinguished; and Mrs. Coleman not only felt it deeply, but was glad
+of the opportunity of letting Mr. Coleman know how good the Carvers
+were.
+
+It was late, but Mrs. Coleman produced the Bible.  Zachariah opened
+it rather mechanically.  They were going regularly through it at
+family worship, and had got into Numbers.  The portion for that
+evening was part of the 26th chapter:  "And these are they that were
+numbered of the Levites after their families:  of Gershon, the family
+of the Gershonites:  of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites:  of
+Merari, the family of the Merarites," &c., &c.  Zachariah, having
+read about a dozen verses, knelt down and prayed; but, alas, even in
+his prayer he saw Pauline's red stockings.
+
+The next morning his wife was more pleasant, and even talkative--
+talkative, that is to say, for her.  Something had struck her.
+
+"My dear," quoth she, as they sat at breakfast, "what a pity it is
+that the Major is not a converted character!"
+
+Zachariah could not but think so too.
+
+"I have been wondering if we could get him to attend our chapel.  Who
+knows?--some word might go to his heart which might be as the seed
+sown on good ground."
+
+"Have you tried to convert him yourself?"
+
+"Oh no, Zachariah!  I don't think that would be quite proper."
+
+She screwed up her lips a little, and then, looking down at her knees
+very demurely, smoothed her apron.
+
+"Why not, my dear?  Surely it is our duty to testify to the belief
+that is in us.  Poor Christiana, left alone, says, as you will
+remember, 'O neighbour, knew you but as much as I do, I doubt not but
+that you would go with me.'"
+
+"Ah, yes, that was all very well then."  She again smoothed her
+apron.  "Besides, you know," she added suddenly, "there were no
+public means of grace in the City of Destruction.  Have YOU said
+anything to the Major?"
+
+"No."
+
+She did not push her advantage, and the unpleasant fact again stood
+before Zachariah's eyes, as it had stood a hundred times before them
+lately, that when he had been with sinners he had been just what they
+were, barring the use of profane language.  What had he done for his
+master with the Major, with Jean, and with Pauline?--and the awful
+figure of the Crucified seemed to rise before him and rebuke him.  He
+was wretched:  he had resolved over and over again to break out
+against those who belonged to the world, to abjure them and all their
+works.  Somehow or other, though, he had not done it.
+
+"Suppose," said Mrs. Zachariah, "we were to ask the Major here on
+Sunday afternoon to tea, and to chapel afterwards."
+
+"Certainly."  He was rather pleased with the proposition.  He would
+be able to bear witness in this way at any rate to the truth.
+
+"Perhaps we might at the same time ask Jean Caillaud, his friend.
+Would to God"--his wife started--"would to God," he exclaimed
+fervently, "that these men could be brought into the Church of
+Christ!"
+
+"To be sure.  Ask Mr. Caillaud, then, too."
+
+"If we do, we must ask his daughter also; he would not go out without
+her."
+
+"I was not aware he had a daughter.  You never told me anything about
+her."
+
+"I never saw her till the other evening."
+
+"I don't know anything of her.  She is a foreigner too.  I hope she
+is a respectable young person."
+
+"I know very little; but she is more English than foreign.  Jean has
+been here a good many years, and she came over when she was quite
+young.  I think she must come."
+
+"Very well."  And so it was settled.
+
+Zachariah that night vowed to his Redeemer that, come what might, he
+would never again give Him occasion to look at him with averted face
+and ask if he was ashamed of Him.  The text ran in his ears:
+"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of My words in this
+adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be
+ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy
+angels."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI--TEA A LA MODE
+
+
+
+Sunday afternoon came.  It was the strangest party.  Pauline, on
+being introduced to Mrs. Coleman, made a profound curtsey, which Mrs.
+Coleman returned by an inclination of her head, as if she consented
+to recognise Pauline, but to go no further.  Tea was served early, as
+chapel began at half-past six.  Mrs. Coleman, although it was Sunday,
+was very busy.  She had made hot buttered toast, and she had bought
+some muffins, but had appeased her conscience by telling the boy that
+she would not pay for them till Monday.  The milk was always obtained
+on the same terms.  She also purchased some water-cresses; but the
+water-cress man demanded prompt cash settlement, and she was in a
+strait.  At last the desire for the water-cresses prevailed, and she
+said:
+
+"How much?"
+
+"Three-halfpence."
+
+"Now, mind I give you twopence for yourself--mind I give it you.  I
+do not approve of buying and selling on Sunday.  We will settle about
+the other ha'porth another time."
+
+"All right, ma'am; if you like it that way, it's no odds to me;" and
+Mrs. Coleman went her way upstairs really believing that she had
+prevented the commission of a crime.
+
+Let those of us cast the stone who can take oath that in their own
+morality there is no casuistry.  Probably ours is worse than hers,
+because hers was traditional and ours is self-manufactured.
+
+Everything being at last in order, Mrs. Coleman, looking rather warm,
+but still very neat and very charming, sat at the head of the table,
+with her back to the fireplace; the Major was on her right, Jean on
+her left, Pauline next to him, and opposite to her Zachariah.
+Zachariah and his wife believed in asking a blessing on their food;
+but, curiously enough, in 1814, even amongst the strictest sort, it
+had come to be the custom not to ask it at breakfast or tea, but only
+at dinner; although breakfast and tea in those days certainly needed
+a blessing as much as dinner, for they were substantial meals.  An
+exception was made in favour of public tea-meetings.  At a public
+tea-meeting a blessing was always asked and a hymn was always sung.
+
+For some time nothing remarkable was said.  The weather was very hot,
+and Mrs. Coleman complained.  It had been necessary to keep up a fire
+for the sake of the kettle.  The Major promptly responded to her
+confession of faintness by opening the window wider, by getting a
+shawl to put over the back of her chair; and these little attentions
+she rewarded by smiles and particular watchfulness over his plate and
+cup.  At last he and Jean fell to talking about the jubilee which was
+to take place on the first of the next month to celebrate the
+centenary of the "accession of the illustrious family of Brunswick to
+the throne"--so ran the public notice.  There was to be a grand
+display in the parks, a sham naval action on the Serpentine, and a
+balloon ascent.
+
+"Are you going, Caillaud?" said the Major.  "It will be a holiday."
+
+"We," cried Pauline--"we!  I should think not.  WE go to rejoice over
+your House of Brunswick; and it is to be the anniversary of your
+battle of the Nile too!  WE go!  No, no."
+
+"What's your objection to the House of Brunswick?  And as for the
+battle of the Nile, you are no friend to Napoleon."  So replied the
+Major, who always took a pleasure in exciting Pauline.
+
+"The House of Brunswick!  Why should we thank God for them; thank God
+for the stupidest race that ever sat upon a throne; thank God for
+stupidity--and in a king, Major?  God, the Maker of the sun and
+stars--to call upon the nation to bless Him for your Prince Regent.
+As for the Nile, I am, as you say, no friend to Napoleon, but I am
+French.  It is horrible to me to think--I saw him the other day--that
+your Brunswick Prince is in London and Napoleon is in Elba."
+
+"God, after all," said the Major, laughing, "is not so hostile to
+stupidity, then; as you suppose."
+
+"Ah! don't plague me, Major; that's what you are always trying to do.
+I'm not going to thank the Supreme for the Brunswicks.  I don't
+believe He wanted them here."
+
+Pauline's religion was full of the most lamentable inconsistencies,
+which the Major was very fond of exposing, but without much effect,
+and her faith was restored after every assault with wonderful
+celerity.  By way of excuse for her we may be permitted to say that a
+perfectly consistent, unassailable creed, in which conclusion follows
+from premiss in unimpeachable order, is impossible.  We cannot
+construct such a creed about any man or woman we know, and least of
+all about the universe.  We acknowledge opposites which we have no
+power to bring together; and Pauline, although she knew nothing of
+philosophy, may not have been completely wrong with her Supreme who
+hated the Brunswicks and nevertheless sanctioned Carlton House.
+
+Pauline surprised Mrs. Zachariah considerably.  A woman, and more
+particularly a young woman, even supposing her to be quite orthodox,
+who behaved in that style amongst the members of Pike Street, would
+have been like a wild seagull in a farmyard of peaceful, clucking,
+brown-speckled fowls.  All the chapel maidens and matrons, of course,
+were serious; but their seriousness was decent and in order.  Mrs.
+Coleman was therefore scandalised, nervous, and dumb.  Jean, as his
+manner was when his daughter expressed herself strongly, was also
+silent.  His love for her was a consuming, hungry fire.  It utterly
+extinguished all trace, not merely of selfishness, but of self, in
+him, and he was perfectly content, when Pauline spoke well, to remain
+quiet, and not allow a word of his to disturb the effect which he
+thought she ought to produce.
+
+The Major, as a man of the world, thought the conversation was
+becoming a little too metaphysical, and asked Mrs. Coleman gaily if
+she would like to see the fete.
+
+"Really, I hardly know what to say.  I suppose"--and this was said
+with a peculiar acidity--"there is nothing wrong in it?  Zachariah,
+my dear, would you like to go?"
+
+Zachariah did not reply.  His thoughts were elsewhere.  But at last
+the spirit moved in him:
+
+"Miss Pauline, your Supreme Being won't help you very far.  There is
+no light save in God's Holy Word.  God hath concluded them all in
+unbelief that He might have mercy upon all.  As by one man's
+disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall
+many be made righteous.  That is the explanation; that is the gospel.
+God allows all this wickedness that His own glory may be manifested
+thereby, and His own love in sending Jesus Christ to save us:  that,
+as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
+righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.  Do you ask
+me why does God wink at the crimes of kings and murderers?  What if
+God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured
+with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
+and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels
+of mercy which He had afore prepared unto glory, even us whom He had
+called?  Miss Pauline, the mere light of human reason will never save
+you or give you peace.  Unless you believe God's Word you are lost;
+lost here and hereafter; lost HERE even, for until you believe it you
+wander in a fog of ever deepening confusion.  All is dark and
+inexplicable."
+
+Being very much excited, he used largely the words of St. Paul, and
+not his own.  How clear it all seemed to him, how indisputable!
+Childish association and years of unquestioning repetition gave an
+absolute certainty to what was almost unmeaning to other people.
+
+Mrs. Zachariah, although she had expressed a strong desire for the
+Major's conversion, and was the only other representative of the
+chapel present, was very fidgety and uncomfortable during this
+speech.  She had an exquisite art, which she sometimes practised, of
+dropping her husband, or rather bringing him down.  So, when there
+was a pause, everybody being moved at least by his earnestness, she
+said:
+
+"My dear, will you take any more tea?"
+
+He was looking on the table-cloth, with his head on his hands, and
+did not answer.
+
+"Major Maitland, may I give you some more tea?"
+
+"No, thank you."  The Major too was impressed--more impressed than
+the lady who sat next to him, and she felt rebuffed and annoyed.  To
+Pauline, Zachariah had spoken Hebrew; but his passion was human, and
+her heart leapt out to meet him, although she knew not what answer to
+make.  Her father was in the same position; but the Major's case was
+a little different.  He had certainly at some time or other read the
+Epistle to the Romans, and some expressions were not entirely
+unfamiliar to him.
+
+"'Vessels of wrath fitted to destruction!'--a strong and noble
+phrase.  Who are your vessels of wrath, Coleman?"
+
+Caillaud and Pauline saw a little light, but it was speedily eclipsed
+again.
+
+"The unregenerate."
+
+"Who are they?"
+
+"Those whom God has not called."
+
+"Castlereagh, Liverpool, Sidmouth, and the rest of the gang, for
+example?"
+
+Zachariah felt that the moment had come.
+
+"Yes, yes; but not only they.  More than they.  God help me if I deny
+the Cross of Christ--all of us into whose hearts God's grace has not
+been poured--we, you, all of us, if we have not been born of the
+Spirit and redeemed by the sacrifice of His Son."
+
+Zachariah put in the "us" and the "we," it will be observed.  It was
+a concession to blunt the sharpness of that dreadful dividing-line.
+
+"We?  Not yourself, Caillaud, and Pauline?"
+
+He could not face the question.  Something within him said that he
+ought to have gone further; that he ought to have singled out the
+Major, Caillaud, and Pauline; held them fast, looked straight into
+their eyes, and told them each one there and then that they were in
+the bonds of iniquity, sold unto Satan, and in danger of hell-fire.
+But, alas! he was at least a century and a half too late.  He
+struggled, wrestled, self against self, and failed, not through want
+of courage, but because he wanted a deeper conviction.  The system
+was still the same, even to its smallest details, but the application
+had become difficult.  The application, indeed, was a good deal left
+to the sinner himself.  That was the difference.  Phrases had been
+invented or discovered which served to express modern hesitation to
+bring the accepted doctrine into actual, direct, week-day practice.
+It was in that way that it was gradually bled into impotence.  One of
+these phrases came into his mind.  It was from his favourite author:
+
+"'Who art thou that judgest?'  It is not for me, Major Maitland."
+
+Ah, but, Zachariah, do you not remember that Paul is not speaking of
+those who deny the Lord, but of the weak in faith; of differences in
+eating and drinking, and the observation of days?  Whether he
+remembered it or not, he could say no more.  Caillaud, the Major,
+Pauline, condemned to the everlasting consequences of the wrath of
+the Almighty!  He could not pronounce such a sentence, and yet his
+conscience whispered that just for want of the last nail in a sure
+place what he had built would come tumbling to the ground.  During
+the conversation the time had stolen away, and, to their horror,
+Zachariah and his wife discovered that it was a quarter-past six.  He
+hastily informed his guests that he had hoped they would attend him
+to his chapel.  Would they go?  The Major consented.  He had nothing
+particular on hand, but Caillaud and Pauline refused.  Zachariah was
+particularly urgent that these two should accompany him, but they
+were steadfast, for all set religious performances were hateful to
+them.
+
+"No, Coleman, no more; I know what it all means."
+
+"And I," added Pauline, "cannot sit still with so many respectable
+people; I never could.  I have been to church, and always felt
+impelled to do something peculiar in it which would have made them
+turn me out.  I cannot, too, endure preaching.  I cannot tolerate
+that man up in the pulpit looking down over all the people--so wise
+and so self-satisfied.  I want to pull him out and say.  'Here, you,
+sir, come here and let me see if you can tell me two or three things
+I want to know.'  Then, Mr. Coleman, I am never well in a great
+building, especially in a church; I have such a weight upon my head
+as if the roof were resting on it."
+
+He looked mournfully at her, but there was no time to remonstrate.
+Mrs. Zachariah was ready, in her Sunday best of sober bluish cloud-
+colour.  Although it was her Sunday best, there was not a single
+thread of finery on it, and there was not a single crease nor spot.
+She bade Caillaud and Pauline good-bye with much cheerfulness, and
+tripped downstairs.  The Major had preceded her, but Zachariah
+lingered for a moment with the other two.
+
+"Come, my dear, make haste, we shall be so late."
+
+"Go on with the Major; I shall catch you in a moment; I walk faster
+than you.  I must close the window a trifle, and take two or three of
+the coals off the fire."
+
+Caillaud and Pauline lingered too.  The three were infinitely nearer
+to one another than they knew.  Zachariah thought he was so far, and
+yet he was so close.  The man rose up behind the Calvinist, and
+reached out arms to touch and embrace his friends.
+
+"Good-bye, Caillaud; good-bye, Pauline!  May God in His mercy bless
+and save you.  God bless you!"
+
+Caillaud looked steadfastly at him for a moment. and then, in his
+half-forgotten French fashion, threw his arms round his neck, and the
+two remained for a moment locked together, Pauline standing by
+herself apart.  She came forward, took Zachariah's hand, when it was
+free, in both her own, held her head back a little, as if for
+clearness of survey, and said slowly, "God bless you, Mr. Coleman."
+She then went downstairs.  Her father followed her, and Zachariah
+went after his wife and the Major, whom, however, he did not overtake
+till he reached the chapel door, where they were both waiting for
+him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII--JEPHTHAH
+
+
+
+The Reverend Thomas Bradshaw, of Pike Street Meeting-House, was not a
+descendant from Bradshaw the regicide, but claimed that he belonged
+to the same family.  He was in 1814 about fifty years old, and
+minister of one of the most important churches in the eastern part of
+London.  He was tall and spare, and showed his height in the pulpit,
+for he always spoke without a note, and used a small Bible, which he
+held close to his eyes.  He was a good classical scholar, and he
+understood Hebrew, too, as well as few men in that day understood it.
+He had a commanding figure, ruled his church like a despot; had a
+crowded congregation, of which the larger portion was masculine; and
+believed in predestination and the final perseverance of the saints.
+He was rather unequal in his discourses, for he had a tendency to
+moodiness, and, at times, even to hypochondria.  When this temper was
+upon him he was combative or melancholy; and sometimes, to the
+disgust of many who came from all parts of London to listen to him,
+he did not preach in the proper sense of the word, but read a
+chapter, made a comment or two upon it, caused a hymn to be sung, and
+then dismissed his congregation with the briefest of prayers.
+Although he took no active part in politics, he was republican
+through and through, and never hesitated for a moment in those
+degenerate days to say what he thought about any scandal.  In this
+respect he differed from his fellow-ministers, who, under the
+pretence of increasing zeal for religion, had daily fewer and fewer
+points of contact with the world outside.  Mr. Bradshaw had been
+married when he was about thirty; but his wife died in giving birth
+to a daughter, who also died,--and for twenty years he had been a
+widower, with no thought of changing his condition.  He was
+understood to have peculiar opinions about second marriages, although
+he kept them very much to himself.  One thing, however, was known,
+that for a twelvemonth after the death of his wife he was away from
+England, and that he came back an altered man to his people in
+Bedfordshire, where at that time he was settled.  His discourses were
+remarkably strong, and of a kind seldom, or indeed never, heard now.
+They taxed the whole mental powers of his audience, and were utterly
+unlike the simple stuff which became fashionable with the
+Evangelistic movement.  Many of them, taken down by some of his
+hearers, survive in manuscript to the present day.  They will not, as
+a rule, bear printing, because the assumption on which they rest is
+not now assumed; but if it be granted, they are unanswerable; and it
+is curious that even now and then, although they are never for a
+moment anything else than a strict deduction from what we in the
+latter half of the century consider unproven or even false, they
+express themselves in the same terms as the newest philosophy.
+Occasionally too, more particularly when he sets himself the task of
+getting into the interior of a Bible character, he is intensely
+dramatic, and what are shadows to the careless reader become living
+human beings, with the reddest of blood visible under their skin.
+
+On this particular evening Mr. Bradshaw took the story of Jephthah's
+daughter: --"The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah."  Here is an
+abstract of his discourse.  "It WAS the Spirit of the Lord,
+notwithstanding what happened.  I beg you also to note that there is
+a mistranslation in our version.  The Hebrew has it, 'Then it shall
+be, that WHOSOEVER'--not WHATSOEVER--'cometh forth of the doors of my
+house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon,
+shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer HIM'--not IT--'up for a
+burnt-offering.'  Nevertheless I believe my text--it WAS the Spirit
+of the Lord.  This Hebrew soldier was the son of a harlot.  He was
+driven by his brethren out of his father's house.  Ammon made war
+upon Israel, and in their distress the elders of Israel went to fetch
+Jephthah.  Mark, my friends, God's election.  The children of the
+lawful wife are passed by, and the child of the harlot is chosen.
+Jephthah forgets his grievances and becomes captain of the host.
+Ammon is over against them.  Jephthah's rash vow--this is sometimes
+called.  I say it is not a rash vow.  It may be rash to those who
+have never been brought to extremity by the children of Ammon--to
+those who have not cared whether Ammon or Christ wins.  Men and women
+sitting here in comfortable pews"--this was said with a kind of
+snarl--"may talk of Jephthah's rash vow.  God be with them, what do
+they know of the struggles of such a soul?  It does not say so
+directly in the Bible, but we are led to infer it, that Jephthah was
+successful because of his vow.  'The Lord delivered them into his
+hands.'  He would not have done it if He had been displeased with the
+'rash vow'" (another snarl).  "He smote them from Aroer even till
+thou come to Minnith.  Ah, but what follows?  The Omnipotent and
+Omniscient might have ordered it, surely, that a slave might have met
+Jephthah.  Why, in His mercy, did He not do it?  Who are we that we
+should question what He did?  But if we may not inquire too closely
+into His designs, it is permitted us, my friends, when His reason
+accords with ours, to try and show it.  Jephthah had played for a
+great stake.  Ought the Almighty--let us speak it with reverence--to
+have let him off with an ox, or even with a serf?  I say that if we
+are to conquer Ammon we must pay for it, and we ought to pay for it.
+Yes, and perhaps God wanted the girl--who can tell?  Jephthah comes
+back in triumph.  Let me read the passage to you: --'Behold his
+daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances:  AND SHE
+WAS HIS ONLY CHILD:  BESIDE HER HE HAD NEITHER SON NOR DAUGHTER.  And
+it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said,
+Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of
+them that trouble me:  for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and
+I cannot go back.'  Now, you read poetry, I dare say--what you call
+poetry.  I say in all of it--all, at least, I have seen--nothing
+comes up to that.  'SHE WAS HIS ONLY CHILD:  BESIDE HER HE HAD
+NEITHER SON NOR DAUGHTER.'"--(Mr. Bradshaw's voice broke a little as
+he went over the words again with great deliberation and infinite
+pathos.)--"The inspired writer leaves the fact just as it stands, and
+is content.  Inspiration itself can do nothing to make it more
+touching than it is in its own bare nakedness.  There is no thought
+in Jephthah of recantation, nor in the maiden of revolt, but
+nevertheless he has his own sorrow.  HE IS BROUGHT VERY LOW.  God
+does not rebuke him for his grief.  He knows well enough, my dear
+friends, the nature which He took upon Himself--nay, are we not the
+breath of His nostrils, created in His image?  He does not anywhere,
+therefore, I say, forbid that we should even break our hearts over
+those we love and lose.  She asks for two months by herself upon the
+mountains before her death.  What a time for him!  At the end of the
+two months God held him still to his vow; he did not shrink; she
+submitted, and was slain.  But you will want me to tell you in
+conclusion where the gospel is in all this.  Gospel!  I say that the
+blessed gospel is in the Old Testament as well as in the New.  I say
+that the Word of God is one, and that His message is here this night
+for you and me, as distinctly as it is at the end of the sacred
+volume.  Observe, as I have told you before, that Jephthah is the son
+of the harlot.  He hath mercy on whom He will have mercy.  He calls
+them His people who are not His people; and He calls her beloved
+which was not beloved.  God at any rate is no stickler for hereditary
+rights.  Moreover, it does not follow because you, my hearers, have
+God-fearing parents, that God has elected you.  He may have chosen,
+instead of you, instead of me, the wretchedest creature outside,
+whose rags we will not touch.  But to what did God elect Jephthah?
+To a respectable, easy, decent existence, with money at interest,
+regular meals, sleep after them, and unbroken rest at night?  He
+elected him to that tremendous oath and that tremendous penalty.  He
+elected him to the agony he endured while she was away upon the
+hills!  That is God's election; an election to the cross and to the
+cry, 'Eli, Eli, lama Sabachthani.'  'Yes,' you will say, 'but He
+elected him to the victory over Ammon.'  Doubtless He did; but what
+cared Jephthah for his victory over Ammon when she came to meet him,
+or, indeed, for the rest of his life?  What is a victory, what are
+triumphal arches and the praise of all creation to a lonely man?  Be
+sure, if God elects you, He elects you to suffering.  Whom He loveth
+He chasteneth, and His stripes are not play-work.  Ammon will not be
+conquered unless your heart be well nigh broken.  I tell you, too, as
+Christ's minister, that you are not to direct your course according
+to your own desires.  You are not to say, -'I will give up this and
+that so that I may be saved.'  Did not St. Paul wish himself accursed
+from Christ for his brethren?  If God should command you to go down
+to the bottomless pit in fulfilment of His blessed designs, it is
+your place to go.  Out with self--I was about to say this damned
+self; and if Israel calls, if Christ calls, take not a sheep or ox--
+that is easy enough--but take your choicest possession, take your own
+heart, your own blood, your very self, to the altar."
+
+During the sermon the Major was much excited.  Apart altogether from
+the effect of the actual words spoken, Mr:  Bradshaw had a singular
+and contagious power over men.  The three, Mrs. Coleman, the Major,
+and Zachariah, came out together.  Mrs. Zachariah stayed behind in
+the lobby for some female friend to whom she wished to speak about a
+Sunday-school tea-meeting which was to take place that week.  The
+other two stood aside, ill at ease, amongst the crowd pressing out
+into the street.  Presently Mrs. Coleman found her friend, whom she
+at once informed that Major Maitland and her husband were waiting for
+her, and that therefore she had not a moment to spare.  That little
+triumph accomplished, she had nothing of importance to say about the
+tea-meeting, and rejoined her party with great good-humour.  She
+walked between the Major and Zachariah, and at once asked the Major
+how he "enjoyed the service."  The phrase was very unpleasant to
+Zachariah, but he was silent.
+
+"Well, ma'am," said the Major, "Mr. Bradshaw is a very remarkable
+man.  It is a long time since any speaker stirred me as he did.  He
+is a born orator, if ever there was one."
+
+"I could have wished," said Zachariah, "as you are not often in
+chapel, that his sermon had been founded on some passage in the New
+Testament which would have given him the opportunity of more simply
+expounding the gospel of Christ."
+
+"He could not have been better, I should think.  He went to my heart,
+though it is rather a difficult passage in the case of a man about
+town like me; and I tell you what, Coleman, he made me determine I
+would read the Bible again.  What a story that is!"
+
+"Major, I thank God if you will read it; and not for the stories in
+it, save as all are part of one story--the story of God's redeeming
+mercy."
+
+The Major made no reply, for the word was unwinged.
+
+Mrs. Zachariah was silent, but when they came to their door both she
+and her husband pressed him to come in.  He refused, however; he
+would stroll homeward, he said, and have a smoke as he went.
+
+"He touched me, Coleman, he did.  I thought, between you and me"--and
+he spoke softly--"I had not now got such a tender place; I thought it
+was all healed over long ago.  I cannot come in.  You'll excuse me.
+Yes, I'll just wander back to Piccadilly.  I could not talk."
+
+They parted, and Zachariah and his wife went upstairs.  Their supper
+was soon ready.
+
+"Jane," he said slowly, "I did not receive much assistance from you
+in my endeavours to bring our friends to a knowledge of the truth.  I
+thought that, as you desired the attempt, you would have helped me a
+little."
+
+"There is a reason for everything; and, what is more, I do not
+consider it right to take upon myself what belongs to a minister.  It
+may do more harm than good."
+
+"Take upon yourself what belongs to a minister!  My dear Jane, is
+nobody but a minister to bear witness for the Master?"
+
+"Of course I did not mean to say that; you know I did not.  Why do
+you catch at my words?  Perhaps, if you had not been quite so
+forward, Mr. Caillaud and his daughter might have gone to chapel."
+
+After supper, and when he was alone, Zachariah sat for some time
+without moving.  He presently rose and opened the Bible again, which
+lay on the table--the Bible which belonged to his father--and turned
+to the fly-leaf on which was written the family history.  There was
+the record of his father's marriage, dated on the day of the event.
+There was the record of his own birth.  There was the record of his
+mother's death, still in his father's writing, but in an altered
+hand, the letters not so distinct, and the strokes crooked and formed
+with difficulty.  There was the record of Zachariah's own marriage.
+A cloud of shapeless, inarticulate sentiment obscured the man's eyes
+and brain.  He could not define what he felt, but he did feel.  He
+could not bear it, and he shut the book, opening it again at the
+twenty-second Psalm--the one which the disciples of Jesus called to
+mind on the night of the crucifixion.  It was one which Mr. Bradshaw
+often read, and Zachariah had noted in it a few corrections made in
+the translation:
+
+"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?  Our fathers trusted in
+Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. . . .  Be not far
+from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. . . .  Be
+Thou not far from me, O Lord:  O my strength, haste Thee to help me.
+. . .  Save me from the lion's mouth:  and from the horns of the wild
+oxen Thou hast answered me."
+
+"From the horns of the wild oxen"--that correction had often been
+precious to Zachariah.  When at the point of being pinned to the
+ground--so he understood it--help had arisen; risen up from the
+earth, and might again arise.  It was upon the first part of the text
+he dwelt now.  It came upon him with fearful distinctness that he was
+alone--that he could never hope for sympathy from his wife as long as
+he lived.  Mr. Bradshaw's words that evening recurred to him.  God's
+purpose in choosing to smite Jephthah in that way was partly
+intelligible, and, after all, Jephthah was elected to redeem his
+country too.  But what could be God's purpose in electing one of his
+servants to indifference and absence of affection where he had a
+right to expect it?  Could anybody be better for not being loved?
+Even Zachariah could not think it possible.  But Mr. Bradshaw's words
+again recurred.  Who was he that he should question God's designs?
+It might be part of the Divine design that he, Zachariah Coleman,
+should not be made better by anything.  It might be part of that
+design, part of a fulfilment of a plan devised by the Infinite One,
+that he should be broken, nay, perhaps not saved.  Mr. Bradshaw's
+doctrine that night was nothing new.  Zachariah had believed from his
+childhood, or had thought he believed, that the potter had power over
+the clay--of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another
+unto dishonour; and that the thing formed unto dishonour could not
+reply and say to him that formed it:  'Why hast thou made me thus?'
+Nevertheless, to believe it generally was one thing; to believe it as
+a truth for him was another.  Darkness, the darkness as of the
+crucifixion night, seemed over and around him.  Poor wretch! he
+thought he was struggling with his weakness; but he was in reality
+struggling against his own strength.  WHY had God so decreed?  Do
+what he could, that fatal WHY, the protest of his reason, asserted
+itself; and yet he cursed himself for permitting it, believing it to
+be a sin.  He walked about his room for some relief.  He looked out
+of the window.  It was getting late; the sky was clearing, as it does
+in London at that hour, and he saw the stars.  There was nothing to
+help him there.  They mocked him rather with their imperturbable,
+obstinate stillness.  At last he turned round, fell upon his knees,
+and poured out himself before his Maker, entreating Him for light.
+He rose from the ground, looked again out of the window, and the
+first flush of the morning was just visible.  Light was coming to the
+world in obedience to the Divine command, but not to him.  He was
+exhausted, and crept into his bedroom, undressing without candle, and
+without a sound.  For a few minutes he thought he should never sleep
+again, save in his grave; but an unseen Hand presently touched him,
+and he knew nothing till he was awakened by the broad day streaming
+over him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII--UNCONVENTIONAL JUSTICE
+
+
+
+In December, 1814, a steamboat was set in motion on the Limehouse
+Canal, the Lord Mayor and other distinguished persons being on board.
+In the same month Joanna Southcott died.  She had announced that on
+the 19th October she was to be delivered of the Prince of Peace,
+although she was then sixty years old.  Thousands of persons believed
+her, and a cradle was made.  The Prince of Peace did not arrive, and
+in a little more than two months poor Joanna had departed, the cause
+of her departure having being certified as dropsy.  Death did not
+diminish the number of her disciples, for they took refuge in the
+hope of her resurrection.  "The arm of the Lord is not shortened,"
+they truly affirmed; and even to this day there are people who are
+waiting for the fulfilment of Joanna's prophecies and the appearance
+of the "second Shiloh."  Zachariah had been frequently twitted in
+joke by his profane companions in the printing-office upon his
+supposed belief in the delusion.  It was their delight to assume that
+all the "pious ones," as they called them, were alike; and on the
+morning of the 30th of December, the day after Joanna expired, they
+were more than usually tormenting.  Zachariah did not remonstrate.
+In his conscientious eagerness to bear witness for his Master, he had
+often tried his hand upon his mates; but he had never had the
+smallest success, and had now desisted.  Moreover, his thoughts were
+that morning with his comrades, the Friends of the People.  He hummed
+to himself the lines from Lara:
+
+
+"Within that land was many a malcontent,
+Who cursed the tyranny to which he bent;
+That soil full many a wringing despot saw,
+Who worked his wantonness in form of law:
+Long war without and frequent broil within
+Had made a path for blood and giant sin."
+
+
+The last meeting had been unusually exciting.  Differences of opinion
+had arisen as to future procedure, many of the members, the Secretary
+included, advocating action; but what they understood by it is very
+difficult to say.  A special call had been made for that night, and
+Zachariah was in a difficulty.  His native sternness and detestation
+of kings and their ministers would have led him almost to any length;
+but he had a sober head on his shoulders.  So had the Major, and so
+had Caillaud.  Consequently they held back, and insisted, before
+stirring a step towards actual revolution, that there should be some
+fair chance of support and success.  The Major in particular warned
+them of the necessity of drill; and plainly told them also that, not
+only were the middle classes all against them, but their own class
+was hostile.  This was perfectly true, although it was a truth so
+unpleasant that he had to endure some very strong language, and even
+hints of treason.  No wonder:  for it is undoubtedly very bitter to
+be obliged to believe that the men whom we want to help do not
+themselves wish to be helped.  To work hard for those who will thank
+us, to head a majority against oppressors, is a brave thing; but far
+more honour is due to the Maitlands, Caillauds, Colemans, and others
+of that stamp who strove for thirty years from the outbreak of the
+French revolution onwards, not merely to rend the chains of the
+prisoners, but had to achieve the more difficult task of convincing
+them that they would be happier if they were free.  These heroes are
+forgotten, or nearly so.  Who remembers the poor creatures who met in
+the early mornings on the Lancashire moors or were shot by the
+yeomanry?  They sleep in graves over which stands no tombstone, or
+probably their bodies have been carted away to make room for a
+railway which has been driven through their resting-place.  They saw
+the truth before those whom the world delights to honour as its
+political redeemers; but they have perished utterly from our
+recollection, and will never be mentioned in history.  Will there
+ever be a great Day of Assize when a just judgment shall be
+pronounced; when all the impostors who have been crowned for what
+they did not deserve will be stripped, and the Divine word will be
+heard calling upon the faithful to inherit the kingdom,--who, when "I
+was an hungered gave me meat, when I was thirsty gave me drink; when
+I was a stranger took me in; when I was naked visited me; when I was
+in prison came unto me?"  Never!  It was a dream of an enthusiastic
+Galilean youth, and let us not desire that it may ever come true.
+Let us rather gladly consent to be crushed into indistinguishable
+dust, with no hope of record:  rejoicing only if some infinitesimal
+portion of the good work may be achieved by our obliteration, and
+content to be remembered only in that anthem which in the future it
+will be ordained shall be sung in our religious services in honour of
+all holy apostles and martyrs who have left no name.
+
+The night before the special meeting a gentleman in a blue cloak, and
+with a cigar in his mouth, sauntered past the entrance to Carter's
+Rents, where Mr. Secretary lived.  It was getting late, but he was
+evidently not in a hurry, and seemed to enjoy the coolness of the
+air, for presently he turned and walked past the entrance again.  He
+took out his watch--it was a quarter to eleven o'clock--and he cursed
+Mr. Secretary and the beer-shops which had probably detained him.  A
+constable came by, but never showed himself in the least degree
+inquisitive; although it was odd that anybody should select Carter's
+Rents for a stroll.  Presently Mr. Secretary came in sight, a trifle,
+but not much, the worse for liquor.  It was odd, also, that he took
+no notice of the blue cloak and cigar, but went straight to his own
+lodging.  The other, after a few moments followed; and it was a third
+time odd that he should find the door unbolted and go upstairs.  All
+this, we say, would have been strange to a spectator, but it was not
+so to these three persons.  Presently the one first named found
+himself in Mr. Secretary's somewhat squalid room.  He then stood
+disclosed as the assistant whom the Secretary had first seen at
+Whitehall sitting in the Commissioner's Office.  This was not the
+second nor third interview which had taken place since then.
+
+"Well, Mr. Hardy, what do you want here to-night?"
+
+"Well, my friend, you know, I suppose.  How goes the game?"
+
+"D---m me if I DO know.  If you think I am going to split, you are
+very much mistaken."
+
+"Split!  Who wants you to split?  Why, there's nothing to split
+about.  I can tell you just as much as you can tell me."
+
+"Why do you come here then?"
+
+"For the pleasure of seeing you, and to--" Mr. Hardy put his hand
+carelessly in his pocket, a movement which was followed by a metallic
+jingle--"and just to--to--explain one or two little matters."
+
+The Secretary observed that he was very tired.
+
+"Are you?  I believe I am tired too."
+
+Mr. Hardy took out a little case-bottle with brandy in it, and the
+Secretary, without saying a word, produced two mugs and a jug of
+water.  The brandy was mixed by Mr. Hardy; but his share of the
+spirit differed from that assigned to his friend.
+
+"Split!" he continued; "no, I should think not.  But we want you to
+help us.  The Major and one or two more had better be kept out of
+harm's way for a little while; and we propose not to hurt them, but
+to take care of them a bit, you understand?  And if, the next time,
+he and the others will be there--we have been looking for the Major
+for three or four days, but he is not to be found in his old
+quarters--we will just give them a call.  When will you have your
+next meeting?  They will be all handy then."
+
+"You can find that out without my help.  It's to-morrow."
+
+"Ah!  I suppose you've had a stormy discussion.  I hope your moderate
+counsels prevailed."
+
+Mr. Secretary winked and gave his head a twist on one side, as if he
+meant thereby to say:  "You don't catch me."
+
+"It's a pity," continued Mr. Hardy, taking no notice, "that some men
+are always for rushing into extremities.  Why don't they try and
+redress their grievances, if they have any, in the legitimate way
+which you yourself propose--by petition?"
+
+It so happened that a couple of hours before, Mr. Secretary having
+been somewhat noisy and insubordinate, the Major had been obliged to
+rule him out of order and request his silence.  The insult--for so he
+considered it--was rankling in him.
+
+"Because," he replied, "we have amongst us two or three d---d
+conceited, stuck-up fools, who think they are going to ride over us.
+By God, they are mistaken though!  They are the chaps who do all the
+mischief.  Not that I'd say anything against them--no,
+notwithstanding I stand up against them."
+
+"Do all the mischief--yes, you've just hit it.  I do believe that if
+it were not for these fellows the others would be quiet enough."
+
+The Secretary took a little more brandy and water.  The sense of
+wrong within him was like an open wound, and the brandy inflamed it.
+He also began to think that it would not be a bad thing for him if he
+could seclude the Major, Caillaud, and Zachariah for a season.
+Zachariah in particular he mortally hated.
+
+"What some of these fine folks would like to do, you see, Mr. Hardy,
+is to persuade us poor devils to get up the row, while they DIRECT
+it.  DIRECT it, that's their word; but we're not going to be
+humbugged."
+
+"Too wide awake, I should say."
+
+"I should say so too.  We are to be told off for the Bank of England,
+and they are to show it to us at the other end of Cheapside."
+
+"Bank of England," said Mr. Hardy, laughing; "that's a joke.  You
+might run your heads a long while against that before you get in.
+You don't drink your brandy and water."
+
+The Secretary took another gulp.  "And he's a military man--a
+military man--a military man."  He was getting rather stupid now, and
+repeated the phrase each of the three times with increasing
+unsteadiness, but also with increasing contempt.
+
+Mr. Hardy took our his watch.  It was getting on towards midnight.
+"Good-bye; glad to see you all right," and he turned to leave.  There
+was a jingling of coin again, and when he had left Mr. Secretary took
+up the five sovereigns which had found their way to the table and put
+them in his pocket.  His visitor picked his way downstairs.  The
+constable was still pacing up and down Carter's Rents, but again did
+not seem to observe him, and he walked meditatively to Jermyn Street.
+He was at his office by half-past nine, and his chief was only half-
+an-hour later.
+
+The Major had thought it prudent to change his address; and,
+furthermore, it was the object of the Government to make his arrest,
+with that of his colleagues, at the place of meeting, not only to
+save trouble, but because it would look better.  Mr. Hardy had found
+out, therefore, all he wanted to know, and was enabled to confirm his
+opinion that the Major was the head of the conspiracy.
+
+But underneath Mr. Secretary's mine was a deeper mine; for as the
+Major sat at breakfast the next morning a note came for him, the
+messenger leaving directly he delivered it to the servant.  It was
+very brief:- "No meeting to-night.  Warn all except the Secretary,
+who has already been acquainted."  There was no signature, and he did
+not know the handwriting.  He reflected for a little while, and then
+determined to consult Caillaud and Coleman, who were his informal
+Cabinet.  He had no difficulty in finding Coleman, but the Caillauds
+were not at home, and it was agreed that postponement could do no
+harm.  A message was therefore left at Caillaud's house, and one was
+sent to every one of the members, but two or three could not be
+discovered.
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Secretary, who, strange to say, had NOT been
+acquainted, had been a little overcome by Mr. Hardy's brandy on the
+top of the beer he had taken beforehand, and woke in the morning very
+miserable.  Finding the five guineas in his pocket, he was tempted to
+a public-house hard by, in order that he might cool his stomach and
+raise his spirits with a draught or two of ale.  He remained there a
+little too long, and on reaching home was obliged to go to bed again.
+He awoke about six, and then it came into his still somewhat confused
+brain that he had to attend the meeting.  At half-past seven he
+accordingly took his departure.  Meanwhile the Major and Zachariah
+had determined to post themselves in Red Lion Street, to intercept
+those of their comrades with whom they had not been able to
+communicate, and also to see what was going to happen.  At a quarter
+to eight the Secretary turned out of Holborn, and when he came a
+little nearer, Zachariah saw that at a distance of fifty yards there
+was a constable following him.  He came on slowly until he was
+abreast of a narrow court, when suddenly there was a pistol-shot, and
+he was dead on the pavement.  Zachariah's first impulse was to rush
+forward, but he saw the constable running, followed by others, and he
+discerned in an instant that to attempt to assist would lead to his
+own arrest and do no good.  He managed, however, to reach the Major,
+and for two or three moments they stood stock-still on the edge of
+the pavement struck with amazement.  Presently a woman passed them
+with a thick veil over her face.
+
+"Home," she said; "don't stay here like fools.  Pack up your things
+and be off.  You'll be in prison to-morrow morning."
+
+"Be off!" gasped Zachariah; "be off!--where?"
+
+"Anywhere!" and she had gone.
+
+The constables, after putting the corpse in a hackney coach,
+proceeded to the room; but it was dark and empty.  They had no
+directions to do anything more that night, and returned to Bow
+Street.  The next morning, however, as soon as it was light, a
+Secretary of State's warrant, backed by sufficient force, was
+presented at the lodgings of Caillaud and Zachariah.  The birds had
+flown, and not a soul could tell what had become of them.  In
+Zachariah's street, which was rather a Radical quarter, the official
+inquiries were not answered politely, and one of the constables
+received on the top of his head an old pail with slops in it.  The
+minutest investigation failed to discover to whom the pail belonged.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX--A STRAIN ON THE CABLE
+
+
+
+Bow Street was completely at fault, and never discovered the secret
+of that assassination.  It was clear that neither the Major nor
+Coleman were the murderers, as they had been noticed at some distance
+from the spot where the Secretary fell by several persons who
+described them accurately.  Nor was Caillaud suspected, as the
+constable testified that he passed him on the opposite side of the
+street, as he followed the Secretary.  The only conclusion, according
+to Bow Street, which was free from all doubt was, that whoever did
+the deed was a committee consisting of a single member.  A reward of
+500 pounds did not bring forward anybody who knew anything about the
+business.  As for Caillaud, his daughter and the Major, the next
+morning saw them far on the way to Dover, and eventually they arrived
+at Paris in safety.  Zachariah, when he reached home, found his wife
+gone.  A note lay for him there, probably from the same hand which
+warned the Major, telling him not to lose an instant, but to join in
+Islington one of the mails to Manchester.  His wife would start that
+night from St. Martin's le Grand by a coach which went by another
+road.  He was always prompt, and in five minutes he was out of the
+house.  The fare was carefully folded by his unknown friend in the
+letter.  He just managed as directed, to secure a place, not by the
+regular Manchester mail, but by one which went through Barnet and
+stopped to take up passengers at the "Angel."  He climbed upon the
+roof, and presently was travelling rapidly through Holloway and
+Highgate.  He found, to his relief, that nobody had heard of the
+murder, and he was left pretty much to his own reflections.  His
+first thoughts were an attempt to unravel the mystery.  Why was it so
+sudden?  Why had no word not hint of what was intended reached him?
+He could not guess.  In those days the clubs were so beset with spies
+that frequently the most important resolutions were taken by one man,
+who confided in nobody.  It was winter, but fortunately Zachariah was
+well wrapped up.  He journeyed on, hour after hour, in a state of
+mazed bewilderment, one thought tumbling over another, and when
+morning broke over the flats he had not advanced a single step in the
+determination of his future path.  Nothing is more painful to a man
+of any energy than the inability to put things in order in himself--
+to place before himself what he has to do, and arrange the means for
+doing it.  To be the passive victim of a rushing stream of
+disconnected impressions is torture, especially if the emergency be
+urgent.  So when the sun came up Zachariah began to be ashamed of
+himself that the night had passed in these idiotic moonings, which
+had left him just where he was, and he tried to settle what he was to
+do when he reached Manchester.  He did not know a soul; but he could
+conjecture why he was advised to go thither.  It was a disaffected
+town, and Friends of the People were very strong there.  His first
+duty was to get a lodging, his second to get work, and his third to
+find out a minister of God under whom he could worship.  He put this
+last, not because it was the least important, but because he had the
+most time to decide upon it.  At about ten o'clock at night he came
+to his journey's end, and to his joy saw his wife waiting for him.
+They went at once to a small inn hard by, and Mrs. Coleman began to
+overwhelm him with interrogation; but he quietly suggested that not a
+syllable should be spoken till they had had some rest, and that they
+should swallow their supper and go to bed.  In the morning Zachariah
+rose and looked out of the window.  He saw nothing but a small
+backyard in which some miserable, scraggy fowls were crouching under
+a cart to protect themselves from the rain, which was falling heavily
+through the dim, smoky air.  His spirits sank.  He had no fear of
+apprehension or prosecution, but the prospect before him was
+depressing.  Although he was a poor man, he had not been accustomed
+to oscillations of fortune, and he was in an utterly strange place,
+with five pounds in his pocket, and nothing to do.
+
+He was, however, resolved not to yield, and thought it best to begin
+with his wife before she could begin with him.
+
+"Now, my dear, tell me what has happened, who sent you here, and what
+kind of a journey you have had?"
+
+"Mr. Bradshaw came about seven o'clock, and told me the Government
+was about to suppress the Friends of the People; that you did not
+know it; that I must go to Manchester; that you would come after me;
+and that a message would be left for you.  He took me to the coach,
+and paid for me."
+
+"Mr. Bradshaw!  Did he tell you anything more?"
+
+"No; except that he did not think we should be pursued, and that he
+would send our things after us when he knew where we were."
+
+"You have not heard anything more, then?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You haven't heard that the Secretary was shot?"
+
+"Shot!  Oh dear!  Zachariah, what will become of us?"
+
+Her husband then told her what he knew, she listening with great
+eagerness and in silence.
+
+"Oh, Zachariah, what will become of us?" she broke out again.
+
+"There is no reason to worry yourself, Jane; it is perfectly easy for
+me to prove my innocence.  It is better for us, however, to stay here
+for a time.  The Government won't go any further with us; they will
+search for the murderer--that's all."
+
+"Why, then, are we sent here and the others are let alone?  I suppose
+the Major is not here?"
+
+"I cannot say."
+
+"To think I should ever come to this!  I haven't got a rag with me
+beyond what I have on.  I haven't got any clean things; a nice sort
+of creature I am to go out of doors.  And it all had nothing to do
+with us."
+
+"Nothing to do with us!  My dear Jane, do you mean that we are not to
+help other people, but sit at home and enjoy ourselves?  Besides, if
+you thought it wrong, why did you not say so before?"
+
+"How was I to know what you were doing?  You never told me anything;
+you never do.  One thing I do know is that we shall starve and I
+suppose I shall have to go about and beg.  I haven't even another
+pair of shoes or stockings to my feet."
+
+Zachariah pondered for a moment.  His first impulse was something
+very different; but at last he rose, went up to his wife, kissed her
+softly on the forehead, and said:
+
+"Never mind, my dear; courage, you will have your clothes next week.
+Come with me and look out for a lodging."
+
+Mrs. Zachariah, however, shook herself free--not violently, but still
+decidedly--from his caresses.
+
+"Most likely seized by the Government.  Look for a lodging!  That's
+just like you!  How can I go out in this pouring rain?"
+
+Zachariah lately, at any rate, had ceased to expect much affection in
+his wife for him; but he thought she was sensible, and equal to any
+complexity of circumstances, or even to disaster.  He thought this,
+not on any positive evidence; but he concluded, somewhat absurdly,
+that her coldness meant common sense and capacity for facing trouble
+courageously and with deliberation.  He had now to find out his
+mistake, and to learn that the absence of emotion neither proves, nor
+is even a ground for suspecting, any good whatever of a person; that,
+on the contrary, it is a ground for suspecting weakness, and possibly
+imbecility.
+
+Mrs. Coleman refused to go out, and after breakfast Zachariah went by
+himself, having first inquired what was a likely quarter.  As he
+wandered along much that had been before him again and again once
+more recurred to him.  He had been overtaken by calamity, and he had
+not heard from his wife one single expression of sympathy, nor had he
+received one single idea which could help him.  She had thought of
+nothing but herself, and even of herself not reasonably.  She was not
+the helpmeet which he felt he had a right to expect.  He could have
+endured any defect, so it seemed, if only he could have had love; he
+could have endured the want of love if only he could have had a
+counsellor.  But he had neither, and he rebelled, questioning the
+justice of his lot.  Then he fell into the old familiar controversy
+with himself, and it was curiously characteristic of him, that, as he
+paced those dismal Manchester pavements, all their gloom disappeared
+as he re-argued the universal problem of which his case was an
+example.  He admitted the unquestionable right of the Almighty to
+damn three parts of creation to eternal hell if so He willed; why
+not, then, one sinner like Zachariah Coleman to a weary pilgrimage
+for thirty or forty years?  He rebuked himself when he found that he
+had all his life assented so easily to the doctrine of God's absolute
+authority in the election and disposal of the creatures He had made,
+and yet that he revolted when God touched him, and awarded him a
+punishment which, in comparison with the eternal loss of His
+presence, was as nothing.  At last--and here, through his religion,
+he came down to the only consolation possible for him--he said to
+himself, "Thus hath He decreed; it is foolish to struggle against His
+ordinances; we can but submit."  "A poor gospel," says his critic.
+Poor!--yes, it may be; but it is the gospel according to Job, and any
+other is a mere mirage.  "Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom and stretch
+her wings towards the south?"  Confess ignorance and the folly of
+insurrection, and there is a chance that even the irremediable will
+be somewhat mitigated.  Poor!--yes; but it is genuine; and this at
+least must be said for Puritanism, that of all the theologies and
+philosophies it is the most honest in its recognition of the facts;
+the most real, if we penetrate to the heart of it, in the remedy
+which it offers.
+
+He found two small furnished rooms which would answer his purpose
+till his own furniture should arrive, and he and his wife took
+possession that same morning.  He then wrote to his landlord in
+London--a man whom he knew he could trust--and directed him to send
+his goods.  For the present, although he had no fear whatever of any
+prosecution, he thought fit to adopt a feigned name, with which we
+need not trouble ourselves.  In the afternoon he sallied out to seek
+employment.  The weather had cleared, but Mrs. Coleman still refused
+to accompany him, and she occupied herself moodily with setting the
+place to rights, as she called it, although, as it happened, it was
+particularly neat and clean.  There was not so much printing done in
+Manchester then as now, and Zachariah had no success.  He came home
+about seven o'clock, weary and disheartened.  His wife was one of
+those women who under misfortune show all that is worst in them, as
+many women in misfortune show all that is best.
+
+"You might have been sure you would get nothing to do here.  If, as
+you say, there is no danger, why did you not stay in London?"
+
+"You know all about it, my dear; we were warned to come."
+
+"Yes, but why in such a hurry?  Why didn't you stop to think?"
+
+"It is all very well to say so now, but there were only a few minutes
+in which to decide.  Besides, when I got home I found you gone."
+
+Mrs. Zachariah conveniently took no notice of the last part of this
+remark, which, of course, settled the whole question, but continued:
+
+"Ah, well, I suppose it's all right; but I'm sure we shall starve--I
+am convinced we shall.  Oh! I wish my poor dear mother were alive!  I
+have no home to go to.  What WILL become of us?"
+
+He lost his patience a little.
+
+"Jane," he said, "what is our religion worth if it does not support
+us in times like these?  Does it not teach us to bow to God's will?
+Surely we, who have had such advantages, ought to behave under our
+trials better than those who have been brought up like heathens.  God
+will not leave us.  Don't you remember Mr. Bradshaw's sermon upon the
+passage through the Red Sea.  When the Israelites were brought down
+to the very shore with nothing but destruction before them, a way was
+opened.  What did Mr. Bradshaw bid us observe?  The Egyptians were
+close behind--so close that the Israelites saw them; the sea was in
+front.  The road was not made till the enemy was upon them, and then
+the waters were divided and became a wall unto them on their right
+hand and on their left; the very waters, Mr. Bradshaw remarked, which
+before were their terror.  God, too, might have sent them a different
+way; no doubt He might, but He chose THAT way."
+
+"Zachariah, I heard Mr. Bradshaw as well as yourself; I am a member
+of the church just as much as you are, and I don't think it becoming
+of you to preach to me as if you were a minister."  Her voice rose
+and became shriller as she went on.  "I will not stand it.  Who are
+you that you should talk to me so?--bad enough to bring me down here
+to die, without treating me as if I were an unconverted character.
+Oh! if I had but a home to go to!" and she covered her face with her
+apron and became hysterical.
+
+What a revelation!  By this time he had looked often into the soul of
+the woman whom he had chosen--the woman with whom he was to be for
+ever in this world--and had discovered that there was nothing,
+nothing, absolutely nothing which answered anything in himself with a
+smile of recognition; but he now looked again, and found something
+worse than emptiness.  He found lurking in the obscure darkness a
+reptile with cruel fangs which at any moment might turn upon him when
+he was at his weakest and least able to defend himself.  He had that
+in him by nature which would have prompted him to desperate deeds.
+He could have flung himself from her with a curse, or even have
+killed himself in order to escape from his difficulty.  But whatever
+there was in him originally had been changed.  Upon the wild stem had
+been grafted a nobler slip, which drew all its sap from the old root,
+but had civilised and sweetened its acrid juices.  He leaned over his
+wife, caressed her, gave her water, and restored her.
+
+"God knows," he said, "I did not mean to preach to you.  God in
+heaven knows I need that somebody should preach to me."  He knelt
+down before her as she remained leaning back in the chair, and he
+repeated the Lord's Prayer:  "Give us this day our daily bread.
+Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against
+us."  But will it be believed that as he rose from his knees, before
+he had actually straightened his limbs, two lines from the "Corsair"
+flashed into his mind, not particularly apposite, but there they
+were:
+
+
+"She rose--she sprung--she clung to his embrace
+Till his heart heaved beneath her hidden face?"
+
+
+Whence had they descended?  He was troubled at their sudden
+intrusion, and he went silently to the window, moodily gazing into
+the street.  His wife, left to herself, recovered, and prepared
+supper.  There was no reconciliation, at least on her side.  She was
+not capable of reconciliation.  Her temper exhausted itself
+gradually.  With her the storm never broke up nobly and with
+magnificent forgetfulness into clear spaces of azure, with the
+singing of birds and with hot sunshine turning into diamonds every
+remaining drop of the deluge which had threatened ruin; the change
+was always rather to a uniformly obscured sky and a cold drizzle
+which lasted all day.
+
+The next morning he renewed his quest.  He was away all day long, but
+he had no success.  He was now getting very anxious.  He was
+expecting his furniture, which he had directed to be sent to the inn
+where they had first stayed, and he would have to pay for the
+carriage.  His landlord had insisted on a week's rent beforehand, so
+that, putting aside the sum for the carrier, he had now two pounds
+left.  He thought of appealing to his friends; but he had a great
+horror of asking for charity, and could not bring himself to do it.
+
+The third, fourth, and fifth day passed, with no result.  On the
+seventh day he found that his goods had come; but he decided not to
+move, as it meant expense.  He took away a chest of clothes, and
+remained where he was.  By way of recoil from the older doctrine that
+suffering does men good, it has been said that it does no good.  Both
+statements are true, and both untrue.  Many it merely brutalises.
+Half the crime of the world is caused by suffering, and half its
+virtues are due to happiness.  Nevertheless suffering, actual
+personal suffering, is the mother of innumerable beneficial
+experiences, and unless we are so weak that we yield and break, it
+extracts from us genuine answers to many questions which, without it,
+we either do not put to ourselves, or, if they are asked, are turned
+aside with traditional replies.  A man who is strong and survives can
+hardly pace the pavements of a city for days searching for
+employment, his pocket every day becoming lighter, without feeling in
+after life that he is richer by something which all the universities
+in the world could not have given him.  The most dramatic of poets
+cannot imagine, even afar off, what such a man feels and thinks,
+especially if his temperament be nervous and foreboding.  How
+foreign, hard, repellent, are the streets in which he is a stranger,
+alone amidst a crowd of people all intent upon their own occupation,
+whilst he has none!  At noon, when business is at its height, he,
+with nothing to do, sits down on a seat in an open place, or, may be,
+on the doorstep of an empty house, unties the little parcel he has
+brought with him, and eats his dry bread.  He casts up in his mind
+the shops he has visited; he reflects that he has taken all the more
+promising first, and that not more than two or three are left.  He
+thinks of the vast waste of the city all round him; its miles of
+houses; and he has a more vivid sense of abandonment than if he were
+on a plank in the middle of the Atlantic.  Towards the end of the
+afternoon the pressure in the offices and banks increases; the clerks
+hurry hither and thither; he has no share whatever in the excitement;
+he is an intrusion.  He lingers about aimlessly, and presently the
+great tide turns outwards and flows towards the suburbs.  Every
+vehicle which passes him is crowded with happy folk who have earned
+their living and are going home.  He has earned nothing.  Let anybody
+who wants to test the strength of the stalk of carle hemp in him try
+it by the wringing strain of a day thus spent!  How humiliating are
+the repulses he encounters!  Most employers to whom a request is made
+for something to do prefer to treat it as a petition for aims, and
+answer accordingly.  They understand what is wanted before a word is
+spoken, and bawl out "No!  Shut the door after you."  One man to whom
+Zachariah applied was opening his letters.  For a moment he did not
+pay the slightest attention, but as Zachariah continued waiting, he
+shouted with an oath, "What do you stand staring there for?  Be off!"
+There was once a time when Zachariah would have stood up against the
+wretch; but he could not do it now, and he retreated in silence.
+Nevertheless, when he got out into the Street he felt as if he could
+have rushed back and gripped the brute's throat till he had squeezed
+the soul out of his carcass.  Those of us who have craved
+unsuccessfully for permission to do what the Maker of us all has
+fitted us to do alone understand how revolutions are generated.  Talk
+about the atrocities of the Revolution!  All the atrocities of the
+democracy heaped together ever since the world began would not equal,
+if we had any gauge by which to measure them, the atrocities
+perpetrated in a week upon the poor, simply because they are poor;
+and the marvel rather is, not that there is every now and then a
+September massacre at which all the world shrieks, but that such
+horrors are so infrequent.  Again, I say, let no man judge communist
+or anarchist TILL HE HAS ASKED FOR LEAVE TO WORK, and a "Damn your
+eyes!" has rung in his ears.
+
+Zachariah had some self-respect; he was cared for by God, and in
+God's Book was a registered decree concerning him.  These men treated
+him as if he were not a person, an individual soul, but as an atom of
+a mass to be swept out anywhere, into the gutter--into the river.  He
+was staggered for a time.  Hundreds and thousands of human beings
+swarmed past him, and he could not help saying to himself as he
+looked up to the grey sky, "Is it true, then?  Does God really know
+anything about me?  Are we not born by the million every week, like
+spawn, and crushed out of existence like spawn?  Is not humanity the
+commonest and cheapest thing in the world?"  But as yet his faith was
+unshaken, and he repelled the doubt as a temptation of Satan.
+Blessed is the man who can assign promptly everything which is not in
+harmony with himself to a devil, and so get rid of it.  The pitiful
+case is that of the distracted mortal who knows not what is the
+degree of authority which his thoughts and impulses possess; who is
+constantly bewildered by contrary messages, and has no evidence as to
+their authenticity.  Zachariah had his rule still; the suggestion in
+the street was tried by it; found to be false; was labelled
+accordingly, and he was relieved.
+
+The dread of the real, obvious danger was not so horrible as a vague,
+shapeless fear which haunted him.  It was a coward enemy, for it
+seized him when he was most tired and most depressed.  What is that
+nameless terror?  Is it a momentary revelation of the infinite abyss
+which surrounds us; from the sight of which we are mercifully
+protected by a painted vapour, by an illusion that unspeakable
+darkness which we all of us know to exist, but which we
+hypocritically deny, and determine never to confess to one another?
+Here again, however, Zachariah had his advantage over others.  He had
+his precedent.  He remembered that quagmire in the immortal Progress
+into which, if even a good man falls, he can find no bottom; he
+remembered that gloom so profound "that ofttimes, when he lifted up
+his foot to set forward, he knew not where or upon what he should set
+it next;" he remembered the flame and smoke, the sparks and hideous
+noises, the things that cared not for Christian's sword, so that he
+was forced to betake himself to another weapon called All-prayer; he
+remembered how that Christian "was so confounded that he did not know
+his own voice;" he remembered the voice of a man as going before,
+saying, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I
+will fear none ill, for Thou art with me."  Lastly, he remembered
+that by-and-by the day broke, and Christian cried, "He hath turned
+the shadow of death into the morning."  He remembered all this; he
+could connect his trouble with the trouble of others; he could give
+it a place in the dispensation of things, and could therefore lift
+himself above it.
+
+He had now been in Manchester a fortnight, and his little store had
+dwindled down to five shillings.  It was Saturday night.  On the
+Sunday, as his last chance, he meant to write to Mr. Bradshaw.  He
+went out on the Sunday morning, and had persuaded his wife to
+accompany him.  They entered the first place of worship they saw.  It
+was a Methodist chapel, and the preacher was Arminian in the extreme.
+It was the first time Zachariah had ever been present at a Methodist
+service.  The congregation sang with much fervour, and during the
+prayer, which was very long, they broke in upon it with ejaculations
+of their own, such as "Hear him, O Lord!"--"Lord have mercy on us!"
+
+The preacher spoke a broad Lancashire dialect, and was very dramatic.
+He pictured God's efforts to save a soul.  Under the pulpit ledge was
+the imaginary bottomless pit of this world--not of the next.  He
+leaned over and pretended to be drawing the soul up with a cord.  "He
+comes, he comes!" he cried; "God be praised he is safe!" and he
+landed him on the Bible.  The congregation gave a great groan of
+relief.  "There he is on the Rock of Ages!  No, no, he slips; the
+Devil has him!"  The preacher tried to rescue him:  "He is gone--
+gone!" and he bent over the pulpit in agony.  The people almost
+shrieked.  "Gone--gone!" he said again with most moving pathos, and
+was still for a moment.  Then gathering himself up, he solemnly
+repeated the terrible verses:  "For it is impossible for those who
+were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were
+made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of
+God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to
+renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves
+the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame."  Zachariah knew
+that text well.  Round it had raged the polemics of ages.  Mr.
+Bradshaw had never referred to it but once, and all the elder members
+of his congregation were eager in the extreme to hear what he had to
+say about it.  He boldly declared that it had nothing to do with the
+elect.  He was compelled to do so.  Following his master Calvin, he
+made it apply to outsiders.  The elect, says Calvin, are beyond the
+risk of fatal fall.  But "I deny," he goes on to say, that "there is
+any reason why God may not bestow even on the reprobate a taste of
+His favour; may irradiate their minds with some scintillations of His
+light; may touch them with some sense of His goodness; may somehow
+engrave His word on their minds."  Horrible, most horrible, we
+scream, that the Almighty should thus play with those whom He means
+to destroy; but let us once more remember that these men did not idly
+believe in such cruelty.  They were forced into their belief by the
+demands of their understanding, and their assent was more meritorious
+than the weak protests of so-called enlightenment.  Zachariah,
+pondering absently on what he had heard, was passing out of the
+chapel when a hand was gently laid on his shoulder.
+
+"Ah, friend, what are you doing here?"
+
+He turned round and recognised William Ogden, who had been sent by
+the Hampden Club in Manchester some six months before as a delegate
+to the Friends of the People in London.  The two walked some distance
+together, and Zachariah gave him the history of the last three weeks.
+With the murder he was, of course, acquainted.  Ogden was a
+letterpress printer, and when he heard that Zachariah was in such
+straits, he said that he thought he might perhaps find him a job for
+the present, and told him to come to his office on the following
+morning.  Zachariah's heart rejoiced that his bread would not fail,
+but he characteristically rejoiced even more at this signal proof
+that his trust in his God was justified.  When he reached home he
+proposed to his wife that they should at once kneel down and thank
+God for His mercy.
+
+"Of course, Zachariah; but you are not yet sure you will get
+anything.  I will take off my things directly."
+
+"Need you wait to take off your things, my dear?"
+
+"Really, Zachariah, you do make such strange remarks sometimes.  I
+need not wait; but I am sure it will be more becoming, and it will
+give you an opportunity to think over what you are going to say."
+
+Accordingly Mrs. Coleman retired for about five minutes.  On her
+return she observed that it was the time for regular family prayer,
+and she produced the Bible.  Zachariah had indeed had the opportunity
+to think, and he had thought very rapidly.  The mere opening of the
+sacred Book, however, always acted as a spell, and when its heavy
+lids fell down on either side the room cleared itself of all
+haunting, intrusive evil spirits.  He read the seventeenth chapter of
+Exodus, the story of the water brought out of the rock; and he
+thanked the Almighty with great earnestness for the favour shown him,
+never once expressing a doubt that he would not be successful.  He
+was not mistaken, for Ogden had a place for him, just as good and
+just as permanent as the one he had left in London.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X--DISINTEGRATION BY DEGREES
+
+
+
+We must now advance a little more rapidly.  It was in the beginning
+of 1815 that Zachariah found himself settled in Manchester.  That
+eventful year passed without any external change, so far as he was
+concerned.  He became a member of the Hampden Club, to which Ogden
+and Bamford belonged; but he heard nothing of Maitland nor of
+Caillaud.  He had a letter now and then from Mr. Bradshaw and it was
+a sore trial to him that nobody could be found in Manchester to take
+the place of that worthy man of God.  He could not attach himself
+definitely to any church in the town, and the habit grew upon him of
+wandering into this or the other chapel as his fancy led him.  His
+comrades often met on Sunday evenings.  At first he would not go; but
+he was afterwards persuaded to do so.  The reasons which induced him
+to alter his mind were, in the first place, the piety, methodistic
+most of it, which was then mixed up with politics; and secondly, a
+growing fierceness of temper, which made the cause of the people a
+religion.  From 1816 downwards it may be questioned whether he would
+not have felt himself more akin with any of his democratic friends,
+who were really in earnest over the great struggle, than with a sleek
+half Tory professor of the gospel, however orthodox he might have
+been.  In 1816 the situation of the working classes had become almost
+intolerable.  Towards the end of the year wheat rose to a quarter,
+and incendiarism was common all over England.  A sense of insecurity
+and terror took possession of everybody.  Secret outrages, especially
+fires by night, chill the courage of the bravest, as those know well
+enough who have lived in an agricultural county, when, just before
+going to bed, great lights are seen on the horizon; when men and
+women collect on bridges or on hill tops, asking "Where is it?" and
+when fire-engines tearing through the streets arrive useless at their
+journey's end because the hose has been cut.  One evening in November
+1816, Zachariah was walking home to his lodgings.  A special meeting
+of the club had been called for the following Sunday to consider a
+proposal made for a march of the unemployed upon London.  Three
+persons passed him--two men and a woman--who turned round and looked
+at him and then went on.  He did not recognise them, but he noticed
+that they stopped opposite a window, and as he came up they looked at
+him again.  He could not be mistaken; they were the Major, Caillaud,
+and his daughter.  The most joyous recognition followed, and
+Zachariah insisted on their going home with him.  It often happens
+that we become increasingly intimate with one another even when we
+are shut out from all intercourse.  Zachariah had not seen the Major
+nor Caillaud nor Pauline for two years, and not a single thought had
+been interchanged.  Nevertheless he was much nearer and dearer to
+them than he was before.  He had unconsciously moved on a line
+rapidly sweeping round into parallelism with theirs.  The
+relationship between himself and his wife during those two years had
+become, not openly hostile, it is true, but it was neutral.  Long ago
+he had given up the habit of talking to her about politics, the thing
+which lay nearest to his heart just then.  The pumping effort of
+bringing out a single sentence in her presence on any abstract topic
+was incredible, and so he learned at last to come home, though his
+heart and mind were full to bursting, and say nothing more to her
+than that he had seen her friend Mrs. Sykes, or bought his tea at a
+different shop.  On the other hand, the revolutionary literature of
+the time, and more particularly Byron, increasingly interested him.
+The very wildness and remoteness of Byron's romance was just what
+suited him.  It is all very well for the happy and well-to-do to talk
+scornfully of poetic sentimentality.  Those to whom a natural outlet
+for their affection is denied know better.  They instinctively turn
+to books which are the farthest removed from commonplace and are in a
+sense unreal.  Not to the prosperous man, a dweller in beautiful
+scenery, well married to an intelligent wife, is Byron precious, but
+to the poor wretch, say some City clerk, with an aspiration beyond
+his desk, who has two rooms in Camberwell and who before he knew what
+he was doing made a marriage--well--which was a mistake, but who is
+able to turn to that island in the summer sea, where dwells Kaled,
+his mistress--Kaled, the Dark Page disguised as a man, who watches
+her beloved dying:
+
+
+"Who nothing fears, nor feels, nor heeds, nor sees,
+Save that damp brow which rests upon his knees;
+Save that pale aspect, where the eye, though dim,
+Held all the light that shone on earth for him."
+
+
+When they came indoors, and Mrs. Zachariah heard on the stairs the
+tramp of other feet besides those of her husband, she prepared
+herself to be put out of temper.  Not that she could ever be really
+surprised.  She was not one of those persons who keep a house orderly
+for the sake of appearances.  She would have been just the same if
+she had been living alone, shipwrecked on a solitary island in the
+Pacific.  She was the born natural enemy of dirt, dust, untidiness,
+and of every kind of irregularity, as the cat is the born natural
+enemy of the mouse.  The sight of dirt, in fact, gave her a quiet
+kind of delight, because she foresaw the pleasure of annihilating it.
+Irregularity was just as hateful to her.  She could not sit still if
+one ornament on the mantelpiece looked one way and the other another
+way, and she would have risen from her deathbed, if she could have
+done so, to put a chair straight.  She was not, therefore, aggrieved
+in expectancy because she was not fit to be seen.  It was rather
+because she resented any interruption of domestic order of which she
+had not been previously forewarned.  As it happened, however the
+Major came first, and striding into the room, he shook her hand with
+considerable fervour and kissed it gallantly.  Her gathering ill-
+temper disappeared with the promptitude of a flash.  It was a muddy
+night; the Major had not carefully wiped his boots, and the footmarks
+were all over the floor.  She saw them, but they were nothing.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Coleman, how are you?  What a blessing to be here again
+in your comfortable quarters."
+
+"Really, Major Maitland, it is very good of you to say so.  I am very
+glad to see you again.  Where have you been?  I thought we had lost
+you for ever."
+
+Caillaud and his daughter had followed.  They bowed to her formally,
+and she begged them to be seated.
+
+"Then, my dear madam," continued the Major, laughing, "you must have
+thought me dead.  You might have known that if I had not been dead I
+must have come back."
+
+She coloured just a trifle, but made no reply further than to invite
+all the company to have supper.
+
+Zachariah was somewhat surprised.  He did not know what sort of a
+supper it could be; but he was silent.  She asked Pauline to take off
+her bonnet, and then proceeded to lay the cloth.  For five minutes,
+or perhaps ten minutes, she disappeared, and then there came, not
+only bread and cheese, but cold ham, a plentiful supply of beer, and,
+more wonderful still, a small cold beefsteak pie.  Everything was
+produced as easily as if it had been the ordinary fare, and Zachariah
+was astonished at his wife's equality to the emergency.  Whence she
+obtained the ham and beefsteak pie he could not conjecture.  She
+apologised for having nothing hot; would have had something better if
+she had known, etc., etc., and then sat down at the head of the
+table.  The Major sat on her right, Pauline next to him, and opposite
+to Pauline, Caillaud and Zachariah.  Their hostess immediately began
+to ask questions about the events of that fatal night when they all
+left London.
+
+The Major, however, interposed, and said that it would perhaps be
+better if nothing was said upon that subject.
+
+"A dismal topic," he observed; "talking about it can do no good, and
+I for one don't want to be upset by thinking about it just before I
+go to bed."
+
+"At least," said Zachariah, "you can tell us why you are in
+Manchester?"
+
+"Certainly," replied the Major.  "In the first place, Paris is not
+quite so pleasant as it used to be; London, too, is not attractive;
+and we thought that, on the whole, Manchester was to be preferred.
+Moreover, a good deal will have to be done during the next
+twelvemonth, and Manchester will do it.  You will hear all about it
+when your club meets next time."
+
+"You've been in Paris?" said Mrs. Zachariah.  "Isn't it very wicked?"
+
+"Well, that depends on what you call wicked."
+
+"Surely there cannot be two opinions on that point."
+
+"It does seem so; and yet when you live abroad you find that things
+which are made a great deal of here are not thought so much of there;
+and, what is very curious, they think other things very wrong there
+of which we take no account here."
+
+"Is that because they are not Christians?"
+
+"Oh dear no; I am speaking of good Christian people; at least so I
+take them to be.  And really, when you come to consider it, we all of
+us make a great fuss about our own little bit of virtue, and
+undervalue the rest--I cannot tell upon whose authority."
+
+"But are they not, Major, dreadfully immoral in France?"
+
+Pauline leaned over her plate and looked Mrs. Coleman straight in the
+face.
+
+"Mrs. Coleman, you are English; you--"
+
+Her father put up his hand; he foresaw what was coming, and that upon
+this subject Pauline would have defied all the rules of hospitality.
+So he replied calmly, but with the calm of suppressed force:
+
+"Mrs. Coleman, as my daughter says, you are English; you are
+excusable.  I will not dispute with you, but I will tell you a little
+story."
+
+"Will you not take some more beer, Mr. Caillaud, before you begin?"
+
+"No, thank you, madam, I have finished."
+
+Caillaud pushed away his plate, on which three parts of what was
+given him, including all the ham, remained untouched, and began--his
+Gallicisms and broken English have been corrected in the version now
+before the reader:
+
+"In 1790 a young man named Dupin was living in Paris, in the house of
+his father, who was a banker there.  The Dupins were rich, and the
+son kept a mistress, a girl named Victorine.  Dupin the younger had
+developed into one of the worst of men.  He was strictly correct in
+all his dealings, sober, guilty of none of the riotous excesses which
+often distinguish youth at that age, and most attentive to business;
+but he was utterly self-regarding, hard, and emotionless.  What could
+have induced Victorine to love him I do not know; but love him she
+did, and her love instead of being a folly, was her glory.  If love
+were always to be in proportion to desert, measured out in strictest
+and justest huckstering conformity therewith, what a poor thing it
+would be!  The love at least of a woman is as the love of the Supreme
+Himself, and just as magnificent.  Victorine was faithful to Dupin;
+and poor and handsome as she was, never wronged him by a loose look.
+Well, Dupin's father said his son must marry, and the son saw how
+reasonable and how necessary the proposal was.  He did marry, and he
+cut himself adrift from Victorine without the least compunction,
+allowing her a small sum weekly, insufficient to keep her.  There was
+no scene when they parted, for his determination was communicated to
+her by letter.  Three months afterwards she had a child of whom he
+was the father.  Did she quietly take the money and say nothing?  Did
+she tear up the letter in a frenzy and return him the fragments?  She
+did neither.  She wrote to him and told him that she would not touch
+his gold.  She would never forget him, but she could not be beholden
+to him now for a crust of bread.  She had done no wrong hitherto--so
+she said, Mrs. Coleman; I only repeat her words--they are not mine.
+But to live on him after he had left her would be a mortal crime.  So
+they separated, a victim she--both victims, I may say--to this cursed
+thing we call Society.  One of the conditions on which the money was
+to have been given was, that she should never again recognise him in
+any way whatever.  This half of the bargain she faithfully observed.
+For some months she was alone, trying to keep herself and her child,
+but at last she was taken up by a working stone-mason named Legouve.
+In 1793 came the Terror, and the Dupins were denounced and thrown
+into the Luxembourg.  Legouve was one of the Committee of Public
+Safety.  It came to the recollection of the younger Dupin as he lay
+expecting death that he had heard that the girl Victorine had gone to
+live with Legouve, and a ray of light dawned on him in his dungeon.
+He commissioned his wife to call on Victorine and implore her to help
+them.  She did so.  Ah, that was a wonderful sight--so like the
+Revolution!  Madame Dupin, in her silks and satins, had often passed
+the ragged Victorine in the streets, and, of course, had never taken
+the slightest notice of her.  Now Madame was kneeling to her!
+Respectability was in the dust before that which was not by any means
+respectable; the legitimate before the illegitimate!  Oh, it was, I
+say, a wonderful sight in Victorine's wretched garret!  She was
+touched with pity, and, furthermore, the memory of her old days with
+Dupin and her love for him revived.  Legouve was frightfully jealous,
+and she knew that if she pleaded Dupin's cause before him she would
+make matters worse.  A sudden thought struck her.  She went to
+Couthon and demanded an audience.
+
+"'Couthon,' she said, 'are the Dupins to die?'
+
+"'Yes, to-morrow.'
+
+"'Dupin the younger is the father of my child.'
+
+"'And he has deserted you, and you hate him.  He shall die.'
+
+"'Pardon me, I do not hate him.'
+
+"'Ah, you love him still; but that is no reason why he should be
+spared, my pretty one.  We must do our duty.  They are plotters
+against the Republic, and must go.'
+
+"'Couthon, they must live.  Consider; shall that man ascend the
+scaffold with the thought in his heart that I could have rescued him,
+and that I did not; that I have had my revenge?  Besides, what will
+be said?--that the Republic uses justice to satisfy private
+vengeance.  All the women in my quarter know who I am.'
+
+"'That is a fancy.'
+
+"'Fancy!  Is it a fancy to murder Dupin's wife--murder all that is
+good in her--murder the belief in her for ever that there is such a
+thing as generosity?  You do not wish to kill the soul?  That is the
+way with tyrants, but not with the Republic.'
+
+"Thus Victorine strove with Couthon, and he at last yielded.  Dupin
+and his father were released that night, and before daybreak they
+were all out of Paris and safe.  In the morning Legouve found that
+they were liberated, and on asking Couthon the reason, was answered
+with a smile that they had an eloquent advocate.  Victorine had
+warned Couthon not to mention her name, and he kept his promise; but
+Legouve conjectured but too truly.  He went home, and in a furious
+rage taxed Victorine with infidelity to him, in favour of the man who
+had abandoned her.  He would not listen to her, and thrust her from
+him with curses.  I say nothing more about her history.  I will only
+say this, that Pauline is that child who was born to her after Dupin
+left her.  I say it because I am so proud that Pauline has had such a
+mother!"
+
+"Pauline her daughter!" said Zachariah.  "I thought she was your
+daughter."
+
+"She is my daughter:  I became her father."
+
+Everybody was silent.
+
+"Ah, you say nothing," said Caillaud; "I am not surprised.  You are
+astonished.  Well may you be so that such a creature should ever have
+lived.  What would Jesus Christ have said to her?"
+
+The company soon afterwards rose to go.
+
+"Good-bye, Mrs. Coleman," said the Major in his careless way; "I am
+glad to find Manchester does not disagree with you.  At least, I
+should think it does not."
+
+"Oh no, Major Maitland, I like it quite as well as London.  Mind, you
+promise to come again SOON--very soon."
+
+The Major had gone downstairs first.  She had followed him to the
+first landing, and then returned to bid Pauline and Caillaud good-
+bye.  She stood like a statue while Pauline put on her hat.
+
+"Good-night, madam," said Caillaud, slightly bowing.
+
+"Good-night, madam," said Pauline, not bowing in the least.
+
+"Good-night," she replied, without relaxing her rigidity.
+
+As soon as they were in the street Pauline said, "Father, I abhor
+that woman.  If she lives she will kill her husband."
+
+Mrs. Coleman, on the other hand, at the same moment said, "Zachariah,
+Pauline and Caillaud cannot come to this house again."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Why not, Zachariah?  I am astonished at you!  The child of a woman
+who lived in open sin!"
+
+He made no reply.  Years ago not a doubt would have crossed his mind.
+That a member of Mr. Bradshaw's church could receive such people as
+Caillaud and Pauline would have seemed impossible.  Nevertheless,
+neither Caillaud nor Pauline were now repugnant to him; nor did he
+feel that any soundless gulf separated them from him, although, so
+far as he knew his opinions had undergone no change.
+
+Mrs. Coleman forbore to pursue the subject, for her thoughts went off
+upon another theme, and she was inwardly wondering whether the Major
+would ever invite her to the theatre again.  Just as she was going to
+sleep, the figure of the Major hovering before her eyes, she suddenly
+bethought herself that Pauline, if not handsome, was attractive.  She
+started, and lay awake for an hour.  When she rose in the morning the
+same thought again presented itself, to dwell with her hence
+forwards, and to gnaw her continually like vitriol.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI--POLITICS AND PAULINE
+
+
+
+Soon after this visit debates arose in Zachariah's club which
+afterwards ended in the famous march of the Blanketeers, as they were
+called.  Matters were becoming very serious, and the Government was
+thoroughly alarmed, as well it might be, at the discontent which was
+manifest all over the country.  The Prince Regent was insulted as he
+went to open Parliament, and the windows of his carriage were broken.
+It was thought, and with some reason, that the army could not be
+trusted.  One thing is certain, that the reformers found their way
+into the barracks at Knightsbridge and had lunch there at the expense
+of the soldiers, who discussed Hone's pamphlets and roared with
+laughter over the Political Litany.  The Prince Regent communicated
+to both Houses certain papers, and recommended that they should at
+once be taken into consideration.  They contained evidence, so the
+royal message asserted, of treasonable combinations "to alienate the
+affections of His Majesty's subjects from His Majesty's person and
+Government," &c.  Secret committees were appointed to consider them
+both by Lords and Commons, and in about a fortnight they made their
+reports.  The text was the Spitalfields meeting of the preceding 2nd
+of December.  A mob had made it an excuse to march through the city
+and plunder some shops.  Some of the charges brought against the
+clubs by the Lords' Committee do not now seem so very appalling.  One
+was, that they were agitating for universal suffrage and annual
+Parliaments--"projects," say the Committee, "which evidently involve,
+not any qualified or partial change but a total subversion of the
+British constitution."  Another charge was the advocacy of "parochial
+partnership in land, on the principle that the landholders are not
+proprietors in chief; that they are but stewards of the public; that
+the land is the people's farm; that landed monopoly is contrary to
+the spirit of Christianity and destructive of the independence and
+morality of mankind."  The Reform party in Parliament endeavoured to
+prove that the country was in no real danger, and that the singularly
+harsh measures proposed were altogether unnecessary.  That was true.
+There was nothing to be feared, because there was no organisation;
+but nevertheless, especially in the manufacturing towns, the
+suffering was fearful and the hatred of the Government most bitter.
+What is so lamentable in the history of those times is the
+undisciplined wildness and feebleness of the attempts made by the
+people to better themselves.  Nothing is more saddening than the
+spectacle of a huge mass of humanity goaded, writhing, starving, and
+yet so ignorant that it cannot choose capable leaders, cannot obey
+them if perchance it gets them, and does not even know how to name
+its wrongs.  The governing classes are apt to mistake the absurdity
+of the manner in which a popular demand expresses itself for
+absurdity of the demand itself; but in truth the absurdity of the
+expression makes the demand more noteworthy and terrible.  Bamford,
+when he came to London in the beginning of 1817, records the
+impression which the clubs made upon him.  He went to several and
+found them all alike; "each man with his porter-pot before him and a
+pipe in his mouth; many speaking at once, more talkers than thinkers;
+more speakers than listeners.  Presently 'Order' would be called, and
+comparative silence would ensue; a speaker, stranger or citizen,
+would be announced with much courtesy and compliment.  'Hear, hear,
+hear' would follow, with clapping of hands and knocking of knuckles
+on the tables, till the half-pints danced; then a speech, with
+compliments to some brother orator or popular statesman; next a
+resolution in favour of Parliamentary Reform, and a speech to second
+it; an amendment on some minor point would follow; a seconding of
+that; a breach of order by some individual of warm temperament; half
+a dozen would rise to set him right; a dozen to put them down; and
+the vociferation and gesticulation would become loud and
+confounding."
+
+The Manchester clubs had set their hearts upon an expedition to
+London--thousands strong; each man with a blanket to protect him and
+a petition in his hand.  The discussion on this project was long and
+eager.  The Major, Caillaud and Zachariah steadfastly opposed it; not
+because of its hardihood, but because of its folly.  They were
+outvoted; but they conceived themselves loyally bound to make it a
+success.  Zachariah and Caillaud were not of much use in
+organisation, and the whole burden fell upon the Major.  Externally
+gay, and to most persons justifying the charge of frivolity, he was
+really nothing of the kind when he had once settled down to the work
+he was born to do.  His levity was the mere idle sport of a mind
+unattached and seeking its own proper object.  He was like a cat,
+which will play with a ball or its own tail in the sunshine, but if a
+mouse or a bird crosses its path will fasten on it with sudden
+ferocity.  He wrought like a slave during the two months before the
+eventful 10th March 1817, and well nigh broke his heart over the
+business.  Everything had to be done subterraneously; for though the
+Habeas Corpus Act was not yet suspended, preparations for what looked
+like war were perilous.  But this was not the greatest difficulty.
+He pleaded for dictatorial powers, and at once found he had made
+himself suspected thereby.  He was told bluntly that working men did
+not mean to exchange one despot for another, and that they were just
+as good as he was.  Any other man would have thrown up his commission
+in disgust, but not so Major Maitland.  He persevered unflaggingly,
+although a sub-committee had been appointed to act with him and check
+his proceedings.  The secretary of this very sub-committee, who was
+also treasurer, was one of the causes of the failure of the
+enterprise, for when the march began neither he nor the funds with
+which he had been entrusted could be found.  After the club meetings
+in the evening there was often an adjournment to Caillaud's lodgings,
+where the Major, Zachariah, Caillaud, and Pauline sat up till close
+upon midnight.  One evening there was an informal conference of this
+kind prior to the club meeting on the following night.  The Major was
+not present, for he was engaged in making some arrangements for the
+commissariat on the march.  He had always insisted on it that they
+were indispensable, and he had been bitterly opposed the week before
+by some of his brethren, who were in favour of extempore foraging
+which looked very much like plunder.  He carried his point,
+notwithstanding some sarcastic abuse and insinuations of half-
+heartedness, which had touched also Caillaud and Zachariah, who
+supported him.  Zachariah was much depressed.
+
+"Mr. Coleman, you are dull," said Pauline.  "What is the matter?"
+
+"Dull!--that's not exactly the word.  I was thinking of to-morrow."
+
+"Ah!  I thought so.  Well?"
+
+Zachariah hesitated a little.  "Is it worth all the trouble?" at last
+he said, an old familiar doubt recurring to him--"Is it worth all the
+trouble to save them?  What are they?--and, after all, what can we do
+for them?  Suppose we succeed, and a hundred thousand creatures like
+those who blackguarded us last week get votes, and get their taxes
+reduced, and get all they want, what then?"
+
+Pauline broke in with all the eagerness of a woman who is struck with
+an idea--"Stop, stop, Mr. Coleman.  Here is the mistake you make.
+Grant it all--grant your achievement is ridiculously small--is it not
+worth the sacrifice of two or three like you and me to accomplish it?
+That is our error.  We think ourselves of such mighty importance.
+The question is, whether we are of such importance, and whether the
+progress of the world one inch will not be cheaply purchased by the
+annihilation of a score of us.  You believe in what you call
+salvation.  You would struggle and die to save a soul; but in reality
+you can never save a man; you must be content to struggle and die to
+save a little bit of him--to prevent one habit from descending to his
+children.  You won't save him wholly, but you may arrest the
+propagation of an evil trick, and so improve a trifle--just a trifle-
+-whole generations to come.  Besides, I don't believe what you will
+do is nothing.  'Give a hundred thousand blackguard creatures votes'-
+-well, that is something.  You are disappointed they do not at once
+become converted and all go to chapel.  That is not the way of the
+Supreme.  Your hundred thousand get votes, and perhaps are none the
+better, and die as they were before they had votes.  But the Supreme
+has a million, or millions, of years before Him."
+
+Zachariah was silent.  Fond of dialectic, he generally strove to
+present the other side; but he felt no disposition to do so now, and
+he tried rather to connect what she had said with something which he
+already believed.
+
+"True," he said at last; "true, or true in part.  What are we?--what
+are we?" and so Pauline's philosophy seemed to reconcile itself with
+one of his favourite dogmas, but it had not quite the same meaning
+which it had for him ten years ago.
+
+"Besides," said Caillaud, "we hate Liverpool and all his crew.  When
+I think of that speech at the opening of Parliament I become violent.
+There it is; I have stuck it up over the mantelpiece:
+
+
+"Deeply as I lament the pressure of these evils upon the country, I
+am sensible that they are of a nature not to admit of an immediate
+remedy.  But whilst I observe with peculiar satisfaction the
+fortitude with which so many privations have been borne, and the
+active benevolence which has been employed to mitigate them, I am
+persuaded that the great sources of our national prosperity are
+essentially unimpaired; and I entertain a confident expectation that
+the native energy of the country will at no distant period surmount
+all the difficulties in which we are involved."
+
+
+"My God," continued Caillaud, "I could drive a knife into the heart
+of the man who thus talks!"
+
+"No murder, Caillaud," said Zachariah.
+
+"Well, no.  What is it but a word?  Let us say sacrifice.  Do you
+call the death of your Charles a murder?  No; and the reason why you
+do not is what?  Not that it was decreed by a Court.  There have been
+many murders decreed by Courts according to law.  Was not the death
+of your Jesus Christ a murder?  Murder means death for base, selfish
+ends.  What said Jesus--that He came to send a sword?  Of course He
+did.  Every idea is a sword.  What a God He was!  He was the first
+who ever cared for the people--for the real people, the poor, the
+ignorant, the fools, the weak-minded, the slaves.  The Greeks and
+Romans thought nothing of these.  I salute thee, O Thou Son of the
+People!" and Caillaud took down a little crucifix which, strange to
+say, always hung in his room, and reverently inclined himself to it.
+"A child of the people," he continued, "in everything, simple,
+foolish, wise, ragged, Divine, martyred Hero."
+
+Zachariah was not astonished at this melodramatic display, for he
+knew Caillaud well; and although this was a little more theatrical
+than anything he had ever seen before, it was not out of keeping with
+his friend's character.  Nor was it insincere, for Caillaud was not
+an Englishman.  Moreover, there is often more insincerity in
+purposely lowering the expression beneath the thought, and denying
+the thought thereby, than in a little exaggeration.  Zachariah,
+although he was a Briton, had no liking for that hypocrisy which
+takes a pride in reducing the extraordinary to the commonplace, and
+in forcing an ignoble form upon that which is highest.  The
+conversation went no further.  At last Caillaud said:
+
+"Come, Pauline, a tune; we have not had one for a long time."
+
+Pauline smiled, and went into her little room.  Meanwhile her father
+removed chairs and table, piling them one on another so as to leave a
+clear space.  He and Zachariah crouched into the recess by the
+fireplace.  Pauline entered in the self same short black dress
+trimmed with red, with the red artificial flower, wearing the same
+red stockings and dancing-slippers, but without the shawl.  The
+performance this time was not quite what it was when Zachariah had
+seen it in London.  Between herself and the corner where Zachariah
+and her father were seated she now had an imaginary partner, before
+whom she advanced, receded, bowed, displayed herself in the most
+exquisitely graceful attitudes, never once overstepping the mark, and
+yet showing every limb and line to the utmost advantage.  Zachariah,
+as before, followed every movement with eager--shall we say with
+hungry eyes?  He was so unused to exhibitions of this kind that their
+grace was not, as it should have been, their only charm; for, as we
+before observed, in his chapel circle even ordinary dancing was a
+thing prohibited.  The severity of manners to which he had been
+accustomed tended to produce an effect the very opposite to that
+which was designed; for it can hardly be doubted that if it were the
+custom in England for women to conceal the face, a glimpse of an eye
+or a nose would excite unpleasant thoughts.
+
+The dance came to an end, and as it was getting late Zachariah rose.
+
+"Stop," said Caillaud.  "It is agreed that if they persist on this
+march, one or the other of us goes too.  The Major will be sure to
+go.  Which shall it be, you or me?"
+
+"We will draw lots."
+
+"Good."  And Zachariah departed, Pauline laughingly making him one of
+her costume curtseys.  He was very awkward.  He never knew how to
+conduct himself becomingly, or with even good manners, on commonplace
+occasions.  When he was excited in argument he was completely equal
+to the best company, and he would have held his own on level terms at
+a Duke's dinner-party, provided only the conversation were
+interesting.  But when he was not intellectually excited he was
+lubberly.  He did not know what response to make to Pauline's
+graceful adieu, and retreated sheepishly.  When he got home he found
+his wife waiting for him.  The supper was cleared away, and, as
+usual, she was reading, or pretending to be reading, the Bible.
+
+"You have had supper, of course?"  There was a peculiar tone in the
+"of course," as if she meant to imply not merely that it was late,
+but that he had preferred to have it with somebody else.
+
+"I do not want any."
+
+"Then we had better have prayers."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII--ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT
+
+
+
+Next week Zachariah found it necessary to consult with Caillaud
+again.  The Major was to be there.  The intended meeting was
+announced to Mrs. Coleman by her husband at breakfast on the day
+before, and he informed her that he should probably be late, and that
+no supper need be kept for him.
+
+"Why do you never meet here, Zachariah?  Why must it always be at
+Caillaud's?"
+
+"Did you not say that they should not come to this house again?"
+
+"Yes; but I meant I did not want to see them as friends.  On business
+there is no reason why Caillaud should not come."
+
+"I cannot draw the line."
+
+"Zachariah, do you mean to call unconverted infidels your friends?"
+
+They were his friends--he felt they were--and they were dear to him;
+but he was hardly able as yet to confess it, even to himself.
+
+"It will not do," he said.  "Besides, Caillaud will be sure to bring
+his daughter."
+
+"She will not be so bold as to come if she is not asked.  Do _I_ go
+with you anywhere except when I am asked?"
+
+"She has always been used to go out with her father wherever he goes.
+She knows all his affairs, and is very useful to him."
+
+"So it seems.  She must be VERY useful.  Well, if it must be so, and
+it is on business, invite her too."
+
+"I think still it will be better at Caillaud's; there more room.
+There would be five of us."
+
+"How do you make five?"
+
+"There is the Major.  And why, by the way, do you object to Caillaud
+and Pauline more than the Major?  He is not converted."
+
+"There is plenty of room here.  I didn't say I didn't object to the
+Major.  Besides, there is a difference between French infidels and
+English people, even if they are not church members.  But I see how
+it is.  You want to go there, and you will go.  I am of no use to
+you.  You care nothing for me.  You can talk to such dreadful
+creatures as Caillaud and that woman who lives with him, and you
+never talk to me.  Oh, I wish Mr. Bradshaw were here, or I were back
+again at home!  What would Mr. Bradshaw say?"
+
+Mrs. Coleman covered her face in her hands.  Zachariah felt no pity.
+His anger was roused.  He was able to say hard things at times, and
+there was even a touch of brutality in him.
+
+"Whose fault is it that I do not talk to you?  When did I ever get
+any help from you?  What do you understand about what concerns me,
+and when have you ever tried to understand anything?  Your home is no
+home to me.  My life is blasted, and it might have been different.
+The meeting shall not be here, and I will do as I please."
+
+He went out of the room in a rage, and downstairs into the street,
+going straight to his work.  It is a terrible moment when the first
+bitter quarrel takes place, and when hatred, even if it be hatred for
+the moment only first finds expression.  That moment can never be
+recalled!  Is it ever really forgotten, or really forgiven?  Some of
+us can call to mind a word, just one word, spoken, twenty, thirty,
+forty, fifty years ago, which rings in our ears even to-day as
+distinctly as when it was uttered, and forces the blood into the head
+as it did then.  When Zachariah returned that night he and his wife
+spoke to each other as if nothing had happened, but they spoke only
+about indifferent things.  The next day Mrs. Coleman wondered
+whether, after all, he would repent; but the evening came and she
+waited and waited in vain.  The poor woman for hours and hours had
+thought one thought and one thought only, until at last she could
+bear it no longer.  At about eight o'clock she rose, put on her
+cloak, and went out of doors.  She made straight for Caillaud's
+house.  It was cold, and the sky was clear at intervals, with masses
+of clouds sweeping over the nearly full moon.  What she was to do
+when she got to Caillaud's had not entered her head.  She came to the
+door and stopped.  It had just begun to rain heavily.  The sitting-
+room was on the ground-floor, abutting on the pavement.  The blind
+was drawn down, but not closely, and she could see inside.  Caillaud
+Pauline, and Zachariah were there, but not the Major.  Caillaud was
+sitting by the fireside; her husband and Pauline were talking
+earnestly across the table.  Apparently both of them were much
+interested, and his face was lighted up as she never saw it when he
+was with her.  She was fascinated, and could not move.  It was a dull
+lonely street and nobody was to be seen that wet night.  She had no
+protection from the weather but her cloak, and in ten minutes, as the
+rain came down more heavily, she was wet through and shivering from
+head to foot--she who was usually so careful, so precise, so
+singularly averse from anything like disorder.  Still she watched--
+watched every movement of those two--every smile, every gesture; and
+when Caillaud went out of the room, perhaps to fetch something, she
+watched with increasing and self-forgetting intensity.  She had not
+heard footsteps approaching.  The wind had risen; the storm was ever
+fiercer and fiercer, and the feverish energy which poured itself into
+her eyes had drained and deadened every other sense.
+
+"Well, my good woman, what do you want?"
+
+She turned with a start, and it was the Major!
+
+"Mrs. Coleman!  Good God! what are you doing here?  You are soaked.
+Why don't you come in?"
+
+"Oh no, Major Maitland indeed I cannot.  I--I had been out, and I had
+just stopped a moment.  I didn't know it was going to rain."
+
+"But I say you are dripping.  Come in and see you husband; he will go
+with you."
+
+"Oh no, Major, please don't; please don't mention it to him; oh no,
+please don't; he would be very vexed.  I shall be all right; I will
+go on at once and dry myself."
+
+"You cannot go alone.  I will see you as far as your house.  Here,
+take my coat and put it over your shoulders."
+
+The Major took off a heavy cloak with capes, wrapped it round her,
+drew her arm through his, and they went to her lodgings.  She forgot
+Zachariah, Caillaud, and Pauline.  When they arrived she returned the
+cloak and thanked him.  She dared not ask him upstairs and he made no
+offer to stay.
+
+"Please say nothing to my husband; promise you will not.  He would be
+in such a way if he thought I had been out; but I could not help it."
+
+"Oh, certainly not, Mrs. Coleman, if you wish it; though I am sure he
+wouldn't, he couldn't be angry with you."
+
+She lingered as he took the coat.
+
+"Come inside and put it on, Major Maitland; why, it is you who are
+dripping now.  You will not wear that over your sopped clothes.
+Cannot I lend you something?  Won't you have something hot to drink?"
+
+"No, thank you.  I think not; it is not so bad as all that."
+
+He shook hands with her and had gone.
+
+She went upstairs into her dark room.  The fire was out.  She lighted
+no candle, but sat down just as she was, put her head on the table,
+and sobbed as if her heart would break.  She was very seldom overcome
+by emotion of this kind, and used to be proud that she had never once
+in her life fainted, and was not given to hysterics.  Checked at last
+by a deadly shivering which came over her, she took off her wet
+garments, threw them over a chair, and crept into bed, revolving in
+her mind the explanation which she could give to her husband.  When
+she saw him, and he inquired about her clothes, she offered some
+trifling excuse, which seemed very readily to satisfy him, for he
+made scarcely any reply, and was soon asleep.  This time it was her
+turn to lie awake, and the morning found her restless, and with every
+symptom of a serious illness approaching.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII--TO THE GREEKS FOOLISHNESS
+
+
+
+Neither Mrs. Coleman nor her husband thought it anything worse than a
+feverish cold, and he went to his work.  It was a club night, the
+night on which the final arrangements for the march were to be made,
+and he did not like to be away.  His wife was to lie in bed; but a
+woman in the house offered to wait upon her and bring what little
+food she wanted.  It was settled at the club that the Major should
+accompany the expedition and Zachariah and Caillaud having drawn
+lots, the lot fell upon Caillaud.  A last attempt was made to
+dissuade the majority from the undertaking; but it had been made
+before, not only by our three friends, but by other Lancashire
+societies, and had failed.  The only effect its renewal had now was a
+disagreeable and groundless insinuation which was unendurable.  On
+his return from the meeting Zachariah was alarmed.  His wife was in
+great pain, and had taken next to nothing all day.  Late as it was,
+he went for a doctor, who would give no opinion as to the nature of
+the disease then, but merely ordered her some kind of sedative
+mixture, which happily gave her a little sleep.  Zachariah was a
+working man and a poor man.  Occasionally it does happen that a
+working man and a poor man has nerves, and never does his poverty
+appear so hateful to him as when he has sickness in his house.
+
+The mere discomforts of poverty are bad enough--the hunger and cold
+of it--but worse than all is the impossibility of being decently ill,
+or decently dying, or of paying any attention to those who take it
+into their heads to be ill or to die.  A man tolerably well off can
+at least get his wife some help when she is laid up, and when she is
+near her end can remain with her to take her last kiss and blessing.
+Not so the bricklayer's labourer.  If his wife is in bed, he must
+depend upon charity for medicine and attendance.  And although he
+knows he will never see her again, he is forced away to the job on
+which he is employed; for if he does not go he will lose it, and must
+apply to the parish for a funeral.  Happily the poor are not slow to
+help one another.  The present writer has known women who have to
+toil hard all day long, sit up night after night with their
+neighbours, and watch them with the most tender care.  Zachariah
+found it so in his case.  A fellow-lodger, the mother of half-a-dozen
+children, a woman against whom the Colemans had conceived a
+prejudice, and whom they had avoided, came forward and modestly asked
+Zachariah if she might "look after" Mrs. Coleman while he was away.
+He thought for a moment of sundry harsh things which he had said
+about her, and then a well-known parable came into his mind about a
+certain Samaritan, and he could have hugged her with joy at her
+offer.
+
+Mrs. Carter was one of those healthy, somewhat red-faced, gay
+creatures whom nothing represses.  She was never melancholy with
+those who were suffering; not because she had no sympathy for she was
+profoundly sympathetic--but because she was subduable.  Her pulse was
+quick, and her heart so sound that her blood, rich and strong--blood
+with never a taint in it--renewed every moment every fibre of her
+brain.  Her very presence to those who were desponding was a magnetic
+charm and she could put to flight legions of hypochondriacal fancies
+with a cheery word.  Critics said she ruled her husband; but what
+husband would not rejoice in being so ruled?  He came home weary and
+he did not want to rule.  He wanted to be directed, and he gladly saw
+the reins in the hands of his "missus," of whom he was justly proud.
+She conducted all the conversation; she spent his money, and even
+bought him his own clothes; and although she said a sharp thing or
+two now and then, she never really quarrelled with him.  The eldest
+of her six children was only twelve years old, and she was not over
+methodical, so that her apartments were rather confused and
+disorderly.  She was not, however, dirty, and would not tolerate dirt
+even in her boys, to whom, by the way, she administered very short
+and sharp corrections sometimes.  If they came to the table with
+grimy paws, the first intimation they had that their mother noticed
+it was a rap on the knuckles with the handle of a knife which sent
+the bread and butter flying out of their fingers.  She read no books,
+and, what was odd in those days, did not go to chapel or church; but
+she had her "opinions," as she called them, upon everything which was
+stirring in the world, and never was behindhand in the news.  She was
+really happier when she found that she had to look after Mrs.
+Coleman.  She bustled about, taking directions from the doctor--not
+without some scepticism, for she had notions of her own on the
+subject of disease--and going up and down stairs continually to see
+how her patient was getting on.  It was curious that although she was
+a heavy woman she was so active.  She was always on her legs from
+morning to night, and never seemed fatigued.  Indeed, when she sat
+still she was rather uncomfortable; and this was her weak point, for
+her restlessness interfered with sewing and mending, which she
+abominated.
+
+The time for the march was close at hand.  The Habeas Corpus Act had
+meanwhile been suspended and every reformer had to walk very warily.
+Ogden, in whose office it will be remembered that Zachariah was
+engaged, had issued a handbill informing all the inhabitants of
+Manchester and its neighbourhood that on the 10th March a meeting
+would be held near St. Peter's Church of those persons who had
+determined to carry their petitions to London.  Zachariah, going to
+his shop, as usual, on the morning of the 10th--a Monday--was
+astonished to find that Ogden was arrested and in prison.
+
+We must, however, for a time, follow the fortunes of Caillaud and the
+Major on that day.  They were both astir at five o'clock, and joined
+one another at the club.  All the members were to assemble there at
+seven.  Never was the Major more despondent.  As for organisation,
+there was none, and every proposal he had made had been thwarted.  He
+saw well enough, as a soldier, that ten times the enthusiasm at his
+command would never carry a hundred men to London in that cold
+weather, and that if twenty thousand started, the number would be the
+difficulty.  The Yeomanry cavalry were under orders to oppose them,
+and what could an undisciplined mob do against a semi-military force?
+The end of it would be the prompt dispersion of the pilgrims and the
+discredit of the cause.  Nevertheless, both he and Caillaud had
+determined not to desert it.  The absence of all preparations on the
+part of these poor Blanketeers was, in truth, very touching, as it
+showed the innocent confidence which they had in the justice of their
+contention.  Their avowed object was to present a petition personally
+to the Prince Regent, that they might "undeceive" him; as if such a
+thing were possible, or, being possible, would be of the slightest
+service.  The whole country would rise and help them; their journey
+would be a triumphal procession; they were not a hostile army; the
+women would come to the doors and offer them bread and milk; they
+would reach London; Lord Liverpool would resign; and they would come
+back to Manchester with banners flying, having saved their country.
+At nine o'clock the club was in St. Peter's fields, and a kind of
+platform had been erected, from which an address was to be given.
+Caillaud and the Major were down below.  Both of them were aghast at
+what they saw.  Thousands of men were present with whom they were
+unacquainted, who had been attracted by Ogden's proclamation; some
+with coats; others without coats; some with sticks; some with
+petitions; but most of them with blankets, which they had rolled up
+like knapsacks.  The Major's heart sank within him.  What on earth
+could he do?  Nothing except accompany them and try to prevent
+collision with the troops.  The magistrates were distracted by no
+doubts whatever.  They read the Riot Act, although there was no riot,
+nor the semblance of one, and forthwith surrounded the platform and
+carried off everyone on it to prison.  The crowd was then chased by
+the soldiers and special constables, till all power of combination
+was at an end.  About three hundred however, were collected, and
+found their way to Ardwick Green.  They had been joined by others on
+the route, and the Major informally reviewed his men.  Never, surely,
+was there such a regiment! never, surely, did any regiment go on such
+an errand!  Ragged many of them; ignorant all, fanatical, penniless,
+they determined, in spite of all arguments, to proceed.  He pointed
+out that if they could be so easily scattered when they were
+thousands strong, every one of them would be cut down or captured
+before they were twenty miles on the road.  He was answered as before
+with contempt and suspicions of cowardice.  A Methodist, half-
+starved, grey-haired, with black rings round his eyes and a yellow
+face, harangued them.
+
+"My friends," he said, "we have been told to go back; that we are too
+few to accomplish the task to which we have set ourselves.  What said
+the Lord unto Gideon, Judges vii.:  'The people that are with thee
+are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands lest
+Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved
+me.  Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying,
+Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from
+Gilead.'  Well, twenty-two thousand went back and at last Gideon had
+only the three hundred who lapped the water.  By those three hundred
+Israel was saved from the Midianites.  Our thousands have left us;
+but we shall triumph.  It may be the Lord's will that more should
+depart.  It may be that there are yet too many.  I say, then, in the
+words of Gideon, 'Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return.'
+Is there anybody?"  (Loud shouts answered "None.")  "The Lord is with
+us," continued the speaker--"the sword of the Lord and of Gideon!"
+Every one shouted again.
+
+Respectable Manchester was frightened when the Blanketeers met, and
+laughed them to scorn when they were dispersed.  No wonder at the
+laughter.  What could be more absurd?  And yet, when we call to mind
+the THING then on the throne; the THING that gave 180 pounds for an
+evening coat, and incurred enormous debts, while his people were
+perishing; the THING that drank and lied and whored; the THING that
+never did nor said nor thought anything that was not utterly brutish
+and contemptible--when we think that the THING was a monarch, Heaven-
+ordained, so it was said, on which side does the absurdity really
+lie?  Of a truth, not only is the wisdom of this world foolishness,
+as it ever was, but that which to this world is foolishness is
+adjudged wisdom by the Eternal Arbiter.  The Blanketeers shivering on
+Ardwick Green, the weavers who afterwards drilled on the Lancashire
+moors, and were hung according to law, or killed at Peterloo, are
+less ridiculous than those who hung or sabred them, less ridiculous
+than the Crimean war and numberless dignified events in human
+history, the united achievements of the sovereigns and ministries of
+Europe.
+
+The route of the three hundred was towards Stockport; but when they
+reached the bridge they found it occupied by the Yeomanry and a troop
+of the Life Guards.  To attempt to force a passage was impossible;
+but numbers threw themselves into the river, and so crossed.  The
+soldiers then withdrew into Stockport town, and the bridge was left
+open to the main body.  When they got into the street on the other
+side the soldiers and police dashed at them, and arrested everybody
+whom they could catch.  The Major was foremost in the crowd,
+endeavouring to preserve some sort of discipline, and one of the
+Yeomanry, suspecting him to be a leader, rode up to him, and, leaning
+from his horse, collared him.  He was unarmed; but he was a powerful
+man, and wrenched himself free.  The soldier drew his sword, and
+although Caillaud was close by, and attempted to parry the blow with
+a stick, the Major lay a dead man on the ground.  The next moment,
+however, the soldier himself was dead--dead from a pistol-shot fired
+by Caillaud, who was instantly seized, handed over to a guard, and
+marched off with a score of others to Manchester jail.  A remnant
+only of the Blanketeers escaped from Stockport, and a smaller remnant
+got to Macclesfield.  There there was no shelter for them, and many
+of them lay in the streets all night.  When the morning dawned only
+twenty went on into Staffordshire, and these shortly afterwards
+separated, and wandered back to Manchester.  The sword of Gideon was,
+alas! not the sword of the Lord, and aching hearts in that bitter
+March weather felt that there was something worse than the cold to be
+borne at they struggled homewards.  Others, amongst whom was our
+Methodist orator, were not discouraged.  It is a poor religion which
+makes no provision for disaster, and even for apparently final
+failure.  The test of faith is its power under defeat, and these
+silly God-fearing souls argued to themselves that their Master's time
+was not their time; that perhaps they were being punished for their
+sins, and that when it pleased Him they would triumph.  Essentially
+right they were, right in every particular, excepting, perhaps, that
+it was not for their own sins that this sore visitation came upon
+them.  Visitation for sin it was certainly, but a visitation for the
+sins of others--such is the way of Providence, and has been ever
+since the world began, much to the amazement of many reflective
+persons.  Thou hast laid on Him the iniquity of us all, and Jesus is
+crucified rather than the Scribes and Pharisees!  Yet could we really
+wish it otherwise?  Would it have been better in the end that
+Caiaphas and the elders should have been nailed upon Calvary, and
+Jesus die at a good old age, crowned with honour?  It was not yet
+God's time in 1817, but God's time was helped forward, as it
+generally is, by this anticipation of it.  It is a commonplace that a
+premature outbreak puts back the hands of the clock and is a blunder.
+Nine times out of ten this is untrue, and a revolt instantaneously
+quenched in blood is not merely the precursor, but the direct
+progenitor of success.
+
+We will spend no time over the death of Major Maitland.  The tragic
+interest, as one of our greatest masters has said, lies not with the
+corpse but with the mourners, and we turn back to Zachariah.  Ogden's
+office was shut.  On the night after the breakdown at Stockport a
+note in pencil was left at Zachariah's house, in Pauline's
+handwriting.  It was very short: --"Fly for your life--they will have
+you to-night--P."
+
+Fly for his life!  But how could he fly, with his wife in bed and
+with no work before him?  Would it not be base to leave her?  Then it
+occurred to him that if he were taken and imprisoned, he would be
+altogether incapable of helping her.  He determined to speak to Mrs.
+Carter.  He showed her the note, and she was troubled with no
+hesitation of any kind.
+
+"My good man," she said, "you be off this minute.  That's what you've
+got to do.  Never mind your wife; I'll see after her.  Expense?
+Lord, Mr. Coleman what's that?  She don't eat much.  Besides, we'll
+settle all about that afterwards."
+
+Zachariah hesitated.
+
+"Now don't stand shilly-shallying and a-thinking and a-thinking,--
+that never did anybody any good.  I can't a-bear a man as thinks and
+thinks when there's anything to be done as plain as the nose in his
+face.  Where's your bag?"
+
+Mrs. Carter was out of the room in an instant, and in ten minutes
+came back with a change of clothes.
+
+"Now, let us know where you are; but don't send your letters here.
+You write to my sister; there's her address.  You needn't go up
+there; your wife's asleep.  I'll bid her good-bye for you.  Take my
+advice--get out of this county somewhere, and get out of Manchester
+to-night."
+
+"I must go upstairs to get some money," and Zachariah stole into his
+bedroom to take half a little hoard which was in a desk there.  His
+wife, as Mrs. Carter had said, was asleep.  He went to her bedside
+and looked at her.  She was pale and worn.  Lying there unconscious,
+all the defects which had separated him from her vanished.  In sleep
+and death the divine element of which we are compounded reappears,
+and we cease to hate or criticise; we can only weep or pray.  He
+looked and looked again.  The hours of first love and courtship
+passed before him; he remembered what she was to him then, and he
+thought that perhaps the fault, after all, might have been on his
+side, and that he had perhaps not tried to understand her.  He
+thought of her loneliness--taken away by him into a land of
+strangers--and now he was about to desert her; he thought, too, that
+she also was one of God's children just as much as he was; perhaps
+more so.  The tears filled his eyes, although he was a hard, strong
+man not used to tears, and something rose in his throat and almost
+choked him.  He was about to embrace her; but he dared not disturb
+her.  He knelt down at the foot of the bed, and in an agony besought
+his God to have mercy on him.  "God have mercy on me!  God have mercy
+on her!"  That was all he could say--nothing else, although he had
+been used to praying habitually.  His face was upon her feet, as she
+lay stretched out there, and he softly uncovered one of them, so
+gently that she could not perceive it.  Spotlessly white it was, and
+once upon a time she was so attractive to him because she was so
+exquisitely scrupulous!  He bent his lips over it, kissed it--she
+stirred, but did not wake; a great cry almost broke from him, but he
+stifled it and rose.  There was a knock at the door, and he started.
+It was Mrs. Carter.
+
+"Come," she said as he went out, "you have been here long enough.
+Poor dear man!--there, there--of course it's hard to bear--poor dear
+man!"--and the good creature put her hand affectionately on his
+shoulder.
+
+"I don't know how it is," she continued, wiping her eyes with her
+apron, "I can't a-bear to see a man cry.  It always upsets me.  My
+husband ain't done it above once or twice in his life, and, Lord, I'd
+sooner a cried myself all night long.  Good-bye, my dear, good-bye,
+good-bye; God bless you!  It will all come right."
+
+In another minute Zachariah was out of doors.  It was dark, and
+getting late.  The cold air revived him but he could not for some
+time come to any determination as to what he ought to do next.  He
+was not well acquainted with the country round Manchester, and he
+could not decide to what point of the compass it would be safest to
+bend his steps.  At last he remembered that at any rate he must
+escape from the town boundaries, and get a night's lodging somewhere
+outside them.  With the morning some light would possibly dawn upon
+him.
+
+Pauline's warning was well-timed, for the constables made a descent
+upon Caillaud's lodgings as soon as they got him into jail, and
+thence proceeded to Coleman's.  They insisted on a search, and Mrs.
+Carter gave them a bit of her mind, for they went into every room of
+the house, and even into Mrs. Coleman's bedroom.
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Nadin," she said, turning towards the
+notorious chief constable, "if God A'mighty had to settle who was to
+be hung in Manchester, it wouldn't be any of them poor Blanketeers.
+Wouldn't you like to strip the clothes off the bed?  That would be
+just in your line."
+
+"Hold your damned tongue!" quoth Mr. Nadin; but, nevertheless, seeing
+his men grinning and a little ashamed of themselves, he ordered them
+back.
+
+Meanwhile Zachariah pursued his way north-westward unchallenged, and
+at last came to a roadside inn, which he thought looked safe.  He
+walked in, and found half a dozen decent-looking men sitting round a
+fire and smoking.  One of them was a parson, and another was one of
+the parish overseers.  It was about half-past ten, and they were not
+merry, but a trifle boozy and stupid.  Zachariah called for a pint of
+beer and some bread and cheese, and asked if he could have a bed.
+The man who served him didn't know; but would go and see.  Presently
+the overseer was beckoned out of the room, and the man came back
+again and informed Zachariah that there was no bed for him, and that
+he had better make haste with his supper, as the house would close at
+eleven.  In a minute or two the door opened again, and a poor,
+emaciated weaver entered and asked the overseer for some help.  His
+wife, he said, was down with the fever; he had no work; he had had no
+victuals all day, and he and his family were starving.  He was
+evidently known to the company.
+
+"Ah," said the overseer, "no work, and the fever and starving; that's
+what they always say.  I'll bet a sovereign you've been after them
+Blanketeers."
+
+"It's a judgment on you," observed the parson.  "You and your like go
+setting class against class; you never come near the church, and then
+you wonder God Almighty punishes you."
+
+"You can come on your knees to us when it suits you, and you'd burn
+my rick to-morrow," said a third.
+
+"There's a lot of fever amongst 'em down my way," said another, whose
+voice was rather thick, "and a damned lot of expense they are, too,
+for physic and funerals.  It's my belief that they catch it out of
+spite."
+
+"Aren't you going to give me nothing?" said the man.  "There isn't a
+mouthful of food in the place, and the wife may be dead before the
+morning."
+
+"Well, what do you say, parson?" said the overseer.
+
+"I say we've got quite enough to do to help those who deserve help,"
+he replied, "and that it's flying in the face of Providence to
+interfere with its judgment."  With that he knocked the ashes out of
+his pipe, and took a great gulp of his brandy-and-water.
+
+There was an echo of assent.
+
+"God have mercy on me!" said the man, as he sat down on the form by
+the table.  Zachariah touched him gently, and pushed the plate and
+jug to him.  He looked at Zachariah, and without saying a word,
+devoured it greedily.  He just had time to finish, for the landlord,
+entering the room, roughly ordered them to turn out.  Out they went
+accordingly.
+
+"The Lord in heaven curse them!" exclaimed Zachariah's companion when
+they were in the road.  "I could have ripped 'em up, every one of
+'em.  My wife is in bed with her wits a-wandering, and there a'nt a
+lump of coal, nor a crumb of bread, nor a farthing in the house."
+
+"Hush, my friend, cursing is of no use."
+
+"Ah! it's all very well to talk; you've got money maybe."
+
+"Not much.  I too have no work, no lodging, and I'm driven away from
+home.  Here's half of what's left."
+
+"What a sinner I am!" said the other.  "You wouldn't think it, to
+hear me go on as I did, but I am a Methodist.  The last two or three
+days, though, I've been like a raving madman.  That's the worst of
+it.  Starvation has brought the devil into me.  I'm not a-going to
+take all that though, master; I'll take some of it; and if ever I
+prayed to the Throne of Grace in my life, I'll pray for you.  Who are
+you?  Where are you going?"
+
+Zachariah felt that he could safely trust him, and told him what had
+happened.
+
+"I haven't got a bit of straw myself on which to put you; but you
+come along with me."
+
+They walked together for about half a mile, till they came to a barn.
+There was a haystack close by, and they dragged some of the dry hay
+into it.
+
+"You'd better be away from these parts afore it's light, and, if you
+take my advice, Liverpool is the best place for you."
+
+He was right.  Liverpool was a large town, and, what was of more
+consequence, it was not so revolutionary as Manchester, and the
+search there for the suspected was not so strict.  The road was
+explained, so far as Zachariah's friend knew it, and they parted.
+
+Zachariah slept but little, and at four o'clock, with a bright moon,
+he started.  He met with no particular adventure, and in the evening
+found himself once more in a wilderness of strange streets, with no
+outlook, face to face with the Red Sea.  Happy is the man who, if he
+is to have an experience of this kind, is trained to it when young,
+and is not suddenly brought to it after a life of security.
+Zachariah, although he was desponding, could now say he had been in
+the same straits before, and had survived.  That is the consolation
+of all consolations to us.  We have actually touched and handled the
+skeleton, and after all we have not been struck dead. {132}
+
+
+"O socii, neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum,
+O passi graviora, dabit Deus his quoque finem.
+Vos et Scyllaeam rabiem penitusque sonantes
+Accestis scopulos; vos et Cyclopia saxa
+Experti.  Revocate animos, moestumque timorem
+Mittite; forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit."
+
+
+He wandered down to the water and saw a ship cleared for some port
+across the Atlantic.  A longing seized him to go with her.  Over the
+sea,--he thought there he would be at rest.  So we all think, and as
+we watch the vessels dropping below the horizon in the sunset cloud,
+we imagine them bound with a happy crew to islands of the blest, the
+truth being that the cloud is a storm, and the destined port is as
+commonplace and full of misery as the one they have left.  Zachariah,
+however, did not suffer himself to dream.  He went diligently and
+systematically to work; but this time all his efforts were fruitless.
+He called on every printing-office he could find, and there was not
+one which wanted a hand, or saw any prospect of wanting one.  He
+thought of trying the river-side; but he stood no chance there, as he
+had never been accustomed to carry heavy weights.  His money was
+running short, and at last, when evening came on the third day, and
+he was faint with fatigue, his heart sank.  He was ill, too, and
+sickness began to cloud his brain.  As the power of internal
+resistance diminishes, the circumstance of the external world presses
+on us like the air upon an exhausted glass ball, and finally crushes
+us.  It saddened him, too, to think, as it has saddened thousands
+before him, that the fight which he fought, and the death which,
+perhaps, was in front of him, were so mean.  Ophelia dies; Juliet
+dies, and we fancy that their fate, although terrible, is more
+enviable than that of a pauper who drops undramatically on London
+stones.  He came to his lodging at the close of the third day, wet,
+tired, hungry, and with a headache.  There was nobody to suggest
+anything to him or offer him anything.  He went to bed, and a
+thousand images, uncontrolled, rushed backwards and forwards before
+him.  He became excited, so that he could not rest, and after walking
+about his room till nearly daylight, turned into bed again.  When
+morning had fairly arrived he tried to rise, but he was beaten.  He
+lay still till about eleven, and then the woman who kept the lodging-
+house appeared and asked him if he was going to stay all day where he
+was.  He told her he was very bad; but she went away without a word,
+and he saw nothing more of her.  Towards night he became worse and
+finally delirious.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV--THE SCHOOL OF ADVERSITY THE SIXTH FORM THEREOF
+
+
+
+When Zachariah came to himself he was in a large, long, whitewashed
+room, with twenty beds or more in it.  A woman in a greyish check
+dress was standing near him.
+
+"Where am I?" he said.
+
+"Where are yer?" she said; "why, in the workus infirmary, to be sure,
+with me a-looking after yer.  Where would yer be?"
+
+Zachariah relapsed and was still.  The next time he opened his eyes
+the woman had left him.  It was true he was in the workhouse, and a
+workhouse then was not what it is now.  Who can possibly describe
+what it was?  Who can possibly convey to anybody who has not known
+what it was by actual imprisonment in it any adequate sense of its
+gloom; of the utter, callous, brutal indifference of the so-called
+nurses; of the neglect of the poor patients by those who were paid to
+attend to them; of the absence of even common decency; of the
+desperate persistent attempts made by everybody concerned to impress
+upon the wretched mortals who were brought there that they were
+chargeable to the parish and put there for form's sake, prior to
+being shovelled into a hole in the adjoining churchyard?  The
+infirmary nurses were taken from the other side of the building--
+sometimes for very strange reasons.  The master appointed them, and
+was not bound to account to anybody for his preferences.  One woman
+had given him much trouble.  She was a stout, lazy brute, who had no
+business in the House, and who went in and out just as she liked.
+One day something displeased her, and she attacked him with such fury
+and suddenness that he would have been a dead man in a few minutes if
+she had not been pulled off.  But he dared not report her.  She knew
+too much about him, and she was moved a few days afterwards to look
+after the sick.  She it was who spoke to Zachariah.  She, however,
+was not by any means the worst.  Worse than her were the old,
+degraded, sodden, gin-drinking hags, who had all their lives breathed
+pauper air and pauper contamination; women with not one single
+vestige of their Maker's hand left upon them, and incapable, even
+under the greatest provocation, of any human emotion; who would see a
+dying mother call upon Christ, or cry for her husband and children,
+and would swear at her and try to smother her into silence.  As for
+the doctor, he was hired at the lowest possible rate, and was allowed
+a certain sum for drugs.  It was utterly insufficient to provide
+anything except the very commonest physic; and what could he do in
+the midst of such a system, even if he had been inclined to do
+anything?  He accordingly did next to nothing; walked through the
+wards, and left his patients pretty much to Providence.  They were
+robbed even of their food.  They were not much to be pitied for being
+robbed of the stimulants, for every drop, including the "port wine,"
+was obtained by the directors from those of their number or from
+their friends who were in the trade, and it was mostly poisonous.
+Death is always terrible--terrible on the battlefield; terrible in a
+sinking ship; terrible to the exile--but the present writer, who has
+seen Death in the "House" of years gone by, cannot imagine that he
+can ever be so distinctively the King of Terrors as he was there.
+The thought that thousands and thousands of human beings, some of
+them tender-hearted, have had to face him there is more horrifying
+than the thought of French soldiers freezing in their blood on the
+Borodino, or of Inquisitional tortures.  It is one of those thoughts
+which ought not to be thought--a thought to be suppressed, for it
+leads to atheism, or even something worse than mere denial of a God.
+Thank Heaven that the present generation of the poor has been
+relieved at least of one argument in favour of the creed that the
+world is governed by the Devil!  Thank Heaven that the modern
+hospital, with its sisters gently nurtured, devoted to their duty
+with that pious earnestness which is a true religion, has supplied
+some evidence of a Theocracy.
+
+Zachariah looked round again.  There was an old male attendant near
+him.  He had on a brown rough coat with brass buttons, and shoes
+which were much too big for him.  They were supplied in sizes, and
+never fitted.  The old men always took those that were too large.
+They had as their place of exercise a paved courtyard surrounded by
+high brick walls, and they all collected on the sunny side, and
+walked up and down there, making a clapping noise with their feet as
+the shoes slipped off their heels.  This sound was characteristic of
+the whole building.  It was to be heard everywhere.
+
+"You've been very bad," said the old man, "but you'll get better now;
+it a'nt many as get better here."
+
+He was a poor-looking, half-fed creature, with a cadaverous face.  He
+had the special, workhouse, bloodless aspect--just as if he had lived
+on nothing stronger than gruel and had never smelt fresh air.  The
+air, by the way, of those wards was something peculiar.  It had no
+distinctive odour--that is to say, no odour which was specially this
+or that; but it had one that bore the same relation to ordinary
+odours which well-ground London mud bears to ordinary colours.  The
+old man's face, too, had nothing distinctive in it.  The only thing
+certainly predicable of him was, that nothing could be predicated of
+him.  He was neither selfish nor generous; neither a liar nor
+truthful; neither believed anything, nor disbelieved anything; was
+neither good nor bad; had no hope hereafter, nor any doubt.
+
+"Who are you?" said Zachariah.
+
+"Well, that ain't easy to say.  I does odd jobs here as the nurses
+don't do, and I gets a little extra ration."
+
+"How long have I been here?"
+
+"About a fortnight."
+
+Zachariah was too weak to say anything more, and fell asleep again.
+Next day he was better, and he then thought of his wife; he thought
+of Caillaud, the Major, and Pauline; but he had no power to reflect
+connectedly.  He was in that miserable condition in which objects
+present themselves in a tumbling crowd, one following the other with
+inconceivable rapidity, the brain possessing no power to disentangle
+the chaos.  He could not detach the condition of his wife, for
+example, and determine what ought to be done; he could not even bring
+himself to decide if it would be best to let her know where he was.
+No sooner did he try to turn his attention to her, even for a moment,
+than the Major came before him, and then his other friends, and then
+the workhouse and the dread of death there.  Mercifully he went to
+sleep again, and after another long night's rest he was much
+stronger.  He was able now--first sign of restored power--to settle
+that he ought before everything to communicate with Mrs. Carter, and
+he inquired of the old man if he could write.
+
+"Oh, yes, I can write," said he, and something like a gleam of light
+passed over his countenance at being asked to practise an art almost
+forgotten in those walls.
+
+A letter was accordingly written to Mrs. Carter, at her sister's
+address, telling her briefly what had happened, but that she was not
+to be alarmed, as the writer was rapidly recovering.  He was able to
+sign his name; but when the letter was finished, he reflected that he
+had not got a coin in his pocket with which to pay the postage.  One
+of the institutions of the workhouse was, however, a kind of pawnshop
+kept by one of the under-masters, as they were called, and Zachariah
+got a shilling advanced on a pocket-knife.  The letter, therefore,
+was duly despatched, and he gave his secretary a penny for his
+trouble.  This led to a little further intimacy, and Zachariah asked
+him how he came there.
+
+"I don't know," he replied.  "I was born in the country, and when I
+was fourteen, my father apprenticed me to the watchmaking.  He was
+well off--my father was--and when I was out of my time he set me up
+in business in Liverpool.  It was a business as had been established
+some time--a fairish business it was.  But when I came to Liverpool I
+felt dull."
+
+"What do you mean by dull?  Stupid?"
+
+"No, not exactly that.  You know what dull means, don't you?--low-
+spirited like--got nothing to talk about.  Well, I can't tell how it
+come about, but I was always dull, and have been so ever since.  I
+got married soon after I was settled.  My wife was a good sort of
+woman, but she wasn't cheerful, and she wasn't very strong.  Somehow
+the business fell off.  Customers as used to come didn't come, and I
+got no new ones.  I did my work pretty well; but still, for all that,
+things went down and down by degrees.  I never could make out why,
+except that people liked to be talked to, and I had nothing
+particular to say to any of them when they came in.  The shop, too,
+ought to have been painted more often, and I ought to have had
+something in the window, but, as I say, I was always dull, and my
+wife wasn't strong.  At last I was obliged to give up and go to
+journey-work; but when I got old I couldn't see, and was put in
+here."
+
+"But," said Zachariah, "is that all?  Why, you are nearly seventy
+years old.  You must have something more to tell me."
+
+"No.  I don't know as I have; that seems about all."
+
+"But what became of your father?  He was well off.  What became of
+his money when he died?"
+
+"I'd had my share."
+
+"Had you no brothers nor sisters to help you?"
+
+"Yes, I had some."
+
+"Did they let you come here?"
+
+"Why, you see, as I've told you before, I was dull, and my wife
+wasn't strong.  They never came much to see me.  It was my fault; I
+never had nothing to say to them."
+
+"Had you no children?"
+
+"Yes, I had a son and daughter."
+
+"Are they alive now?"
+
+"Yes--both of them; at least I haven't heard as they are dead."
+
+"And able to keep themselves?"
+
+"They used to be."
+
+"And do you mean that your son and daughter let you go to the
+workhouse?"
+
+The old man was a little disturbed, and for a moment some slight sign
+of nervous excitement revealed itself in his lustreless eyes.
+
+"I haven't see anything of 'em for years."
+
+"Did you quarrel?"
+
+"No, we didn't quarrel; but they left off visiting us.  They both of
+them married, and went out a good bit, and were gayer than we were.
+We used to ask them, and then they'd look in sometimes:  but never
+except when they were asked, and always seemed to wish to get away.
+We never had nothing to show anybody, nor nothing to give anybody;
+for we didn't drink and I never smoked.  They went away too, both of
+them, from Liverpool, somewhere towards London."
+
+"But when you broke down didn't you inform them?"
+
+"No.  I hadn't heard anything of them for so long.  I thought I might
+as well get into the House.  It will do very well."
+
+"Didn't you know anybody belonging to your church or chapel?"
+
+"Well, we went to church; but when the business dropped we left off
+going, for nothing much seemed to come of it, and nobody ever spoke
+to us."
+
+"Wouldn't you like to get out of this place?"
+
+"No--I don't know as I should now; I shouldn't know what to do, and
+it won't last long."
+
+"How old are you?"
+
+"Sixty-five."
+
+It puzzled Zachariah that the man's story of his life was so short--
+all told in five minutes.
+
+"But did you never have any adventures?  Did you never hear about
+anything, or see anybody worth remembering?  Tell me all about
+yourself.  We've got nothing to do."
+
+"I don't recollect anything particular after I came to Liverpool.
+Things seemed to go on pretty much in the same way."
+
+"But you got married, and your wife died?"
+
+"Yes--I got married, and she died."
+
+"What was your wife's name?"
+
+"Her name was Jenkins; she was the daughter of the saddler that lived
+next door."
+
+"Couldn't her friends have helped you?"
+
+"After she died they had nothing more to do with me."
+
+"And you really cannot tell me any more?"
+
+"No--how can I?  What more is there to tell?  It's all alike."
+
+The old pauper was called away, and went shuffling along to the door,
+leaving Zachariah to his meditations.
+
+Another day passed, and he was lying half asleep when a visitor was
+announced, and close upon the announcement stood before him--who
+should it be?--no other than Mrs. Carter, out of breath, radiant,
+healthy, impetuous.
+
+"God bless the poor dear man!" she burst out; "to think of finding
+you here, and not to have told us before.  But I suppose you
+couldn't.  Directly as I got your letter off I came, and here I am,
+you see."
+
+Her presence was like the south-west wind and sunlight after long
+north-easterly gloom and frost.  Astonishing is that happy power
+which some people possess which enables them at once to dispel
+depression and even disease.  A woman like Mrs. Carter comes into a
+house where there is misery and darkness; where the sufferer is
+possessed by demons; unnameable apprehensions, which thicken his
+blood and make him cry for death, and they retreat precipitately, as
+their brethren were fabled to retreat at the sign of the cross.  No
+man who is so blessed as to have a friend with that magnetic force in
+him need disbelieve in much of what is recorded as miraculous.
+Zachariah felt as if a draught of good wine had been poured down his
+throat.  But he instantly asked:
+
+"How is my wife?"
+
+"She is all right; but you mustn't bother about her.  You must come
+out at once.  You mustn't go back to Manchester just yet--not as
+they'd care much about you now; Nadin's got plenty of work to do, and
+wouldn't concern himself about you--but you aren't well enough and
+are better away.  Now, look here--I'll tell you what I've been and
+done.  I've got a cousin living here in Liverpool, as good a soul as
+ever lived.  I goes to her and tells her you must stay there."
+
+"But how can I?  Just think of the trouble and expense.  I don't know
+her."
+
+"Lord a mercy, there you are again--trouble and expense!  What
+trouble will you be?  And as for expense, one would think you'd been
+living like a Lord Mayor to hear you talk.  What are we made for if
+not to help one another?"
+
+"I can't walk; and shouldn't I be obliged to get the doctor's
+permission?"
+
+"Walk!  Of course you can't.  And what did my husband say to me
+before I started?  Says he, 'You'll have to get a conveyance to take
+him.'  'Leave me alone for that,' says I; 'although right you are.'
+And I says to my cousin's husband, who drives a hackney coach, 'Just
+you drop down and carry him home.  It won't be ten minutes out of
+your time.'  So he'll be here in about a quarter of an hour.  As for
+the doctor, I understand as much about you as he does, and, doctor or
+no doctor, you won't sleep in this bed to-night.  I'll go and tell
+the head nurse or master, or somebody or the other, that you are off.
+You just put on your clothes."
+
+In a short time she returned, found Zachariah dressed, wrapped him
+round in shawls and rugs, helped him downstairs, put him into the
+coach, and brought him to her cousin's.  It was a little house, in a
+long uniform street; but a good deal of pains had been taken with it
+to make it something special.  There were two bedroom windows in
+front, on the upper storey, and each one had flowers outside.  The
+flower-pots were prevented from falling off the ledge by a lattice-
+work wrought in the centre into a little gate--an actual little gate.
+What purpose it was intended to answer is a mystery; but being there
+the owner of the flower-pots unfastened it every morning when the
+sill was dusted, and removed them through it, although lifting them
+would have been a much simpler operation.  There were flowers in the
+sitting-room downstairs too; but they were inside, as the window was
+flush with the pavement.  This sitting-room was never used except on
+Sundays.  It was about nine feet square, and it had in it a cupboard
+on either side of the fireplace, a black horse-hair sofa alongside
+the wall on the right-hand side of the door, red curtains, a black
+horse-hair arm-chair, three other chairs to match, a little round
+table, two large shells, a framed sampler on the wall representing
+first the letters of the alphabet, then the figures 1, 2, 3, &c.,
+and, finally, a very blue Jesus talking to a very red woman of
+Samaria on a very yellow well--underneath, the inscription and date,
+"Margaret Curtin, 10th March 1785."  The only other decorations--for
+pictures were dear in those days--were two silhouettes, male, and
+female, one at each corner of the mantelpiece, and two earthenware
+dogs which sat eternally looking at one another on the top of one of
+the cupboards.  On the cupboard farthest away from the window was a
+large Bible with pictures in it and notes, and, strange to say, a
+copy of Ferguson's Astronomy and a handsome quarto edition in three
+volumes of Cook's First Voyage.  Everything was as neat and clean as
+it could possibly be; but Mr. and Mrs. Hocking had no children, and
+had saved a little money.
+
+Into this apartment Zachariah was brought.  There was a fire burning,
+though it was not cold, and on the table, covered with a perfectly
+white cloth, stood a basin of broth, with some toast, a little brandy
+in a wine-glass, a jug of water, and a tumbler.  The books, including
+the Bible, had apparently not been read much, and were probably an
+heirloom.  As Zachariah began to recover strength he read the
+Ferguson.  It was the first time he had ever thought seriously of
+Astronomy, and it opened a new world to him.  His religion had
+centred all his thoughts upon the earth as the theatre of the history
+of the universe, and although he knew theoretically that it was but a
+subordinate planet, he had not realised that it was so.  For him,
+practically, this little globe had been the principal object of the
+Creator's attention.  Ferguson told him also, to his amazement, that
+the earth moved in a resisting medium, and that one day it would
+surely fall into the sun.  That day would be the end of the world,
+and of everything in it.  He learned something about the magnitude of
+the planets and the distances of the fixed stars, and noted that his
+author, pious as he is, cannot admit that planets or stars were
+created for the sake of man.  He dwelt upon these facts, more
+especially upon the first till the ground seemed to disappear under
+his feet, and he fell into that strange condition in which people in
+earthquake countries are said to be when their houses begin to
+tremble.  We may laugh, and call him a fool to be disturbed by a
+forecast of what is not going to happen for millions of years; but he
+was not a fool.  He was one of those unhappy creatures whom an idea
+has power to shake, and almost to overmaster.  Ferguson was a
+Christian, and the thought of the destruction of our present
+dwelling-place, with every particle of life on it, did not trouble
+him.  He had his refuge in Revelation.  Zachariah too was a
+Christian, but the muscles of his Christianity were--now at any rate,
+whatever they may once have been--not firm enough to strangle this
+new terror.  His supernatural heaven had receded into shadow; he was
+giddy, and did not know where he was.  He did not feel to their full
+extent the tremendous consequences of this new doctrine, and the
+shock which it has given to so much philosophy and so many theories,
+but he felt quite enough, and wished he had never opened the volume.
+There are many truths, no doubt, which we are not robust enough to
+bear.  In the main it is correct that the only way to conquer is
+boldly to face every fact, however horrible it may seem to be, and
+think, and think, till we pass it and come to a higher fact; but
+often we are too weak, and perish in the attempt.  As we lie
+prostrate, we curse the day on which our eyes were opened, and we cry
+in despair that it would have been better for us to have been born
+oxen or swine than men.  It is an experience, I suppose, not new that
+in certain diseased conditions some single fear may fasten on the
+wretched victim so that he is almost beside himself.  He is unaware
+that this fear in itself is of no importance, for it is nothing but
+an index of ill-health, which might find expression in a hundred
+other ways.  He is unconscious of the ill-health except through his
+fancy, and regards it as an intellectual result.  It is an affliction
+worse ten thousand times than any direct physical pain which ends in
+pain.  Zachariah could not but admit that he was still physically
+weak; he had every reason, therefore, for supposing that his mental
+agony was connected with his sickness, but he could not bring himself
+to believe that it was so, and he wrestled with his nightmares and
+argued with them as though they were mere logical inferences.
+However, he began to get better, and forthwith other matters occupied
+his mind.  His difficulty was not fairly slain, pierced through the
+midst by some heaven-directed arrow, but it was evaded and forgotten.
+Health, sweet blood, unimpeded action of the heart, are the divine
+narcotics which put to sleep these enemies to our peace and enable us
+to pass happily through life.  Without these blessings a man need not
+stir three steps without finding a foe able to give him his death-
+stroke.
+
+Zachariah longed to see his wife again; but he could not bring her to
+Liverpool until he had some work to do.  At last the day came when he
+was able to say that he was once more earning his living, and one
+evening when he reached home she was there too.  Mrs. Carter had
+herself brought her to Liverpool, but had gone back again to
+Manchester at once, as she could not stay the night.  When he first
+set eyes on his wife he was astonished at the change in her.  She was
+whiter, if possible, than ever, thin in the face, dark-ringed about
+the eyes, and very weak.  But otherwise she was what she had always
+been.  The hair was just as smooth, everything about her just as
+spotlessly clean and unruffled, and she sat as she always did, rather
+upright and straight, as if she preferred the discomfort of a
+somewhat rigid position to the greater discomfort of disarranging her
+gown.
+
+Zachariah had much to say.  During the whole of the four hours before
+bedtime he did not once feel that drying-up of conversation which
+used to be so painful to him.  It is true she herself said little or
+nothing, but that was of no moment.  She was strengthless, and he did
+not expect her to talk.  So long as he could speak he was happy.  The
+next morning came, and with it came Hope, as it usually came to him
+in the morning, and he kissed her with passionate fervour as he went
+out, rejoicing to think that, although she was so feeble, she was
+recovering; that he could once more look forward as in earlier days,
+to the evening, and forgetting every cloud which had ever come
+between them.  Alas, when the night of that very day came he found
+his little store exhausted, and he and the companion of his life sat
+together for a quarter of an hour or more without speaking a word.
+He proposed reading a book, and took up the Ferguson, thinking he
+could extract from it something which might interest her; but she was
+so irresponsive, and evidently cared so little for it, that he
+ceased.  It was but eight o'clock, and how to fill up the time he did
+not know.  At last he said he would just take a turn outside and look
+at the weather.  He went out and stood under the stars of which he
+had been reading.  The meeting, after such a separation, was scarcely
+twenty-four hours old, and yet he felt once more the old weariness
+and the old inability to profit by her society or care for it.  He
+wished, or half wished, that there might have existed such
+differences between them that they could have totally disregarded or
+even hated one another.  The futility, however, of any raving was
+soon perfectly clear to him.  He might as well have strained at a
+chain which held him fast by the leg, and he therefore strove to
+quiet himself.  He came back, after being absent longer than he
+intended and found she was upstairs.  He sat down and meditated
+again, but came to no conclusion, for no conclusion was possible.
+The next evening, after they had sat dumb for some moments, he said,
+"My dear; you don't seem well."
+
+"I am not well, as you know.  You yourself don't seem well."
+
+He felt suddenly as if he would have liked to throw himself on his
+knees before her, and to have it all out with her; to say to her all
+he had said to himself; to expose all his misery to her; to try to
+find out whether she still loved him; to break or thaw the shell of
+ice which seemed to have frozen round her.  But he could not do it.
+He was on the point of doing it, when he looked at her face, and
+there was something in it which stopped him.  No such confidence was
+possible, and he went back into himself again.
+
+"Shall I read to you?"
+
+"Yes, if you like."
+
+"What shall I read?
+
+"I don't care; anything you please."
+
+"Shall it be Cook's Voyages?"
+
+"I have just said I really do not care."
+
+He took down the Cook's Voyages; but after about ten minutes he could
+not go on and he put it back in its place.
+
+"Caillaud's trial is to take place next week," he observed after a
+long pause.
+
+"Horrible man!" she exclaimed, with a sudden increase of energy.  "I
+understand that it was in defending him Major Maitland lost his
+life."
+
+"My dear, you are quite wrong.  He was defending Major Maitland, and
+shot the soldier who killed him."
+
+"Quite wrong, am I?  Of course I am quite wrong!"
+
+"I was at head-quarters, you remember."
+
+"Yes, you were; but you were not near Major Maitland."
+
+Zachariah raised his eyes; he thought he detected, he was sure he
+detected, in the tone of this sentence a distinct sneer.
+
+"I was not with Major Maitland; my duties called me elsewhere; but I
+am more likely to know what happened than any gossiping outsider."
+
+"I don't believe in your foreign infidels."
+
+"MY foreign infidels!  You have no right to call them my infidels, if
+you mean that, I am one.  But let me tell you again you are mistaken.
+Besides, supposing you are right, I don't see why he should be a
+horrible man.  He will probably be executed for what he did."
+
+"It was he and that daughter of his who dragged you and the Major
+into all this trouble."
+
+"On the contrary, Caillaud, as well as myself and the Major, did all
+we could to prevent the march.  You must admit I understand what I am
+talking about.  I was at every meeting."
+
+"As usual, nothing I say is right.  It was to be expected that you
+would take the part of the Caillauds."
+
+Zachariah did not reply.  It was supper-time; the chapter from the
+Bible was duly read, the prayer duly prayed, and husband and wife
+afterwards once more, each in turn, silently at the bedside, with
+more or less of sincerity or pathos, sought Him who was the Maker of
+both.  It struck Zachariah during his devotions--a rather unwelcome
+interruption--that his wife as well as himself was in close
+communication with the Almighty.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV--END OF THE BEGINNING
+
+
+
+The trial took place at Lancaster.  Zachariah was sorely tempted to
+go; but, in the first place, he had no money, and, in the second
+place, he feared arrest.  Not that he would have cared two pins if he
+had been put into jail; but he could not abandon his wife.  He was
+perfectly certain what the result would be, but nevertheless, on the
+day when the news was due, he could not rest.  There was a mail coach
+which ran from Lancaster to Liverpool, starting from Lancaster in the
+afternoon and reaching Liverpool between eleven and twelve at night.
+He went out about that time and loitered about the coach-office as if
+he were waiting for a friend.  Presently he heard the wheels and the
+rapid trot of the horses.  His heart failed him, and he could almost
+have fainted.
+
+"What's the news?" said the clerk to the coachman.  "All the whole d-
+--d lot convicted, and one of 'em going to be hung."
+
+"One of them hung!  Which one is that?"
+
+"Why, him as killed the soldier, of course--the Frenchman."
+
+"A d---d good job too," replied the clerk.  "I should like to serve
+every --- Frenchman in the country the same way."
+
+Zachariah could not listen any longer, but went home, and all night
+long a continuous series of fearful images passed before his eyes--
+condemned cells, ropes, gallows and the actual fall of the victim,
+down to the contortion of his muscles.  He made up his mind on the
+following day that he would see Caillaud before he died, and he told
+his wife he was going.  She was silent for a moment, and then she
+said:
+
+"You will do as you like, I suppose:  but I cannot see what is the
+use of it.  You can do no good; you will lose your place here; it
+will cost you something; and when you get there you may have to stop
+there."
+
+Zachariah could not restrain himself.
+
+"Good God!" he cried, "you hear that one of my best friends is about
+to be hung, and you sit there like a statue--not a single word of
+sympathy or horror--you care no more than a stone.  USE of going!  I
+tell you I will go if I starve, or have to rot in jail all my
+lifetime.  Furthermore, I will go this instant."
+
+He went out of the room in a rage, rammed a few things into a bag,
+and was out of the house in ten minutes.  He was excusably unjust to
+his wife--excusably, because he could not help thinking that she was
+hard, and even cruel.  Yet really she was not so, or if she was, she
+was not necessarily so, for injustice, not only to others, but to
+ourselves, is always begotten by a false relationship.  There were
+multitudes of men in the world, worse than Zachariah, with whom she
+would have been, not only happier, but better.  He, poor man, with
+all his virtues, stimulated and developed all that was disagreeable
+in her.
+
+He was in no mood to rest, and walked on all that night.  Amidst all
+his troubles he could not help being struck with the solemn, silent
+procession overhead.  It was perfectly clear--so clear that the
+heavens were not a surface, but a depth, and the stars of a lesser
+magnitude were so numerous and brilliant that they obscured the forms
+of the greater constellations.  Presently the first hint of day
+appeared in the east.  We must remember that this was the year 1817,
+before, so it is commonly supposed, men knew what it was properly to
+admire a cloud or a rock.  Zachariah was not, therefore, on a level
+with the most ordinary subscriber to a modern circulating library.
+Nevertheless he could not help noticing--we will say he did no more--
+the wonderful, the sacredly beautiful, drama which noiselessly
+displayed itself before him.  Over in the east the intense deep blue
+of the sky softened a little.  Then the trees in that quarter began
+to contrast themselves against the background and reveal their
+distinguishing shapes.  Swiftly, and yet with such even velocity that
+in no one minute did there seem to be any progress compared with the
+minute preceding, the darkness was thinned, and resolved itself
+overhead into pure sapphire, shaded into yellow below and in front of
+him, while in the west it was still almost black.  The grassy floor
+of the meadows now showed its colour, grey green, with the dew lying
+on it, and in the glimmer under the hedge might be discerned a hare
+or two stirring.  Star by star disappeared, until none were left,
+save Venus, shining like a lamp till the very moment almost when the
+sun's disc touched the horizon.  Half a dozen larks mounted and
+poured forth that ecstasy which no bird but the lark can translate.
+More amazing than the loveliness of scene, sound, and scent around
+him was the sense of irrestisible movement.  He stopped to watch it,
+for it grew so rapid that he could almost detect definite pulsations.
+Throb followed throb every second with increasing force, and in a
+moment more a burning speck of gold was visible, and behold it was
+day!  He slowly turned his eyes away and walked onwards.
+
+Lancaster was reached on the second evening after he left Liverpool.
+He could not travel fast nor long together, for he was not yet
+completely strong.  He secured a bed in a low part of the town, at a
+public-house, and on the morning of the third day presented himself
+at the prison door.  After some formalities he was admitted, and
+taken by a warder along a corridor with whitewashed walls to the
+condemned cell where Caillaud lay.  The warder looked through a
+grating, and said to Zachariah that a visitor was already there.  Two
+were not allowed at a time, but he would tell the prisoner that
+somebody was waiting for him.
+
+"Let's see, what's your name?" said the warder.  Then it suddenly
+struck him that he had been fool enough, in the excitement of
+entering the prison, to sign his real name in the book.  There was no
+help for it now, and he repeated that it was Coleman.
+
+"Ah yes, Coleman," echoed the man, in a manner which was significant.
+
+"Who is the other visitor?" said Zachariah.
+
+"It is his daughter."
+
+His first thought was to ask to be let in, but his next was, that it
+would be profanity to disturb the intercourse of father and child,
+and he was silent.  However, he had been announced, and Caillaud
+appeared at the grating begging permission for his friend to enter.
+It was at first refused; but presently something seemed to strike the
+jailer, for he relented with a smile.
+
+"You won't want to come again?" he observed interrogatively.
+
+"No; that is to say, I think not."
+
+"No; that is to say, I think not," he repeated slowly, word for word,
+adding, "I shall have to stay with you while you are together."
+
+Zachariah entered, the warder locking the door behind him, and
+seating himself on the edge of the bedstead, where he remained during
+the whole of the interview, jingling his keys and perfectly unmoved.
+
+The three friends spoke not a word for nearly five minutes.
+Zachariah was never suddenly equal to any occasion which made any
+great demands upon him.  It often made him miserable that it was so.
+Here he was, in the presence of one whom he had so much loved, and
+who was about to leave him for ever, and he had nothing to say.  That
+could have been endured could he but have FELT and showed his
+feeling, could he but have cast himself upon his neck and wept over
+him, but he was numbed and apparently immovable.  It was Caillaud who
+first broke the silence.
+
+"It appears I shall have to console you rather than you me; believe
+me, I care no more about dying, as mere dying, than I do about
+walking across this room.  There are two things which disturb me--the
+apprehension of some pain, and bidding good-bye to Pauline and you,
+and two or three more."
+
+There was, after all, but just a touch needed to break up Zachariah
+and melt him.
+
+"You are happier than I," he cried.  "Your work is at an end.  No
+more care for things done or undone; you are discharged, and nobly
+discharged, with honour.  But as for me!"
+
+"With honour!" and Caillaud smiled.  "To be hung like a forger of
+bank-notes--not even to be shot--and then to be forgotten.  Forgotten
+utterly!  This does not happen to be one of those revolutions which
+men remember."
+
+"No! men will not remember," said Pauline, with an elevation of voice
+and manner almost oratorical.  "Men will not remember, but there is a
+memory in the world which forgets nothing."
+
+"Do you know," said Caillaud, "I have always loved adventure, and at
+times I look forward to death with curiosity and interest, just as if
+I were going to a foreign country."
+
+"Tell me," said Zachariah, "if there is anything I can do."
+
+"Nothing.  I would ask you to see that Pauline comes to no harm, but
+she can take care of herself.  I have nothing to give you in parting.
+They have taken everything from me."
+
+"What a brute I am!  I shall never see you again, and I cannot
+speak," sobbed Zachariah.
+
+"Speak!  What need is there of speaking?  What is there which can be
+said at such a time?  To tell you the truth, Coleman, I hardly cared
+about having you here.  I did not want to imperil the calm which is
+now happily upon me; we all of us have something unaccountable and
+uncontrollable in us, and I do not know how soon it may wake in me.
+But I did wish to see you, in order that your mind might be at peace
+about me.  Come, good-bye!"
+
+Caillaud put his hand on Zachariah's shoulder.
+
+"This will not do," he said.  "For my sake forbear.  I can face what
+I have to go through next Monday if am not shaken.  Come, Pauline,
+you too, my child, must leave me for a bit."
+
+Zachariah looked at Pauline, who rose and threw her shawl over her
+shoulders.  Her lips were tightly shut, but she was herself.  The
+warder opened the door.  Zachariah took his friend's hand, held it
+for a moment, and then threw his arms round his neck.  There is a
+pathos in parting which the mere loss through absence does not
+explain.  We all of us feel it, even if there is to be a meeting
+again in a few months, and we are overcome by incomprehensible
+emotion when we turn back down the pier, unable any longer to discern
+the waving of the handkerchief, or when the railway train turns the
+curve in the cutting and leaves us standing on the platform.
+Infinitely pathetic, therefore, is the moment when we separate for
+ever.
+
+Caillaud was unsettled for an instant, and then, slowly untwining the
+embrace, he made a sign to Pauline, who took Zachariah's hand and led
+him outside; the heavy well-oiled bolt of the lock shooting back
+under the key with a smooth strong thud between them.  She walked
+down the corridor alone, not noticing that he had not followed her,
+and had just passed out of sight when an officer stepped up to him
+and said:
+
+"Your name is Coleman?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Sorry to hear it.  My name is Nadin.  You know me, I think.  You
+must consider yourself my prisoner."
+
+Zachariah was in prison for two years.  He had not been there three
+months when his wife died.
+
+* * * *
+
+Let us now look forward to 1821; let us walk down one of the new
+streets just beginning to stretch northwards from Pentonville; let us
+stop opposite a little house, with a little palisade in front,
+enclosing a little garden five and twenty feet long and fifteen feet
+broad; let us peep through the chink between the blind and the
+window.  We see Zachariah and Pauline.  Another year passes; we peep
+through the same chink again.  A cradle is there, in which lies Marie
+Pauline Coleman; but where is the mother?  She is not there, and the
+father alone sits watching the child.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI--COWFOLD
+
+
+
+Cowfold, half village, half town, lies about three miles to the west
+of the great North Road from London to York.  As you go from London,
+about fifty miles from the Post-Office in St. Martin's le Grand--the
+fiftieth milestone is just beyond the turning--you will see a hand-
+post with three arms on it; on one is written in large letters, "To
+LONDON;" on the second, in equally large letters, "To YORK;" and on
+the third, in small italic letters, "To Cowfold."  Two or three years
+before the events narrated in the following chapters took place--that
+is to say, about twenty years after the death of Zachariah's second
+wife--a hundred coaches a day rolled past that hand-post, and about
+two miles beyond it was a huge inn, with stables like cavalry
+barracks, where horses were changed.  No coach went through Cowfold.
+When the inhabitants wished to go northwards or southwards they
+walked or drove to the junction, and waited on the little grassy
+triangle till a coach came by which had room for them.  When they
+returned they were deposited at the same spot, and the passengers who
+were going through from London to York or Scotland, or who were
+coming up to London, always seemed to despise people who were taken
+up or who were left by the roadside there.
+
+There was, perhaps, some reason for this contempt.  The North Road
+was at that time one of the finest roads in the world, broad, hard-
+metalled, and sound in the wettest weather.  That which led to
+Cowfold was under the control of the parish, and in winter-time was
+very bad indeed.  When you looked down it it seemed as if it led
+nowhere, and indeed the inhabitants of the town were completely shut
+off from any close communication with the outer world.  How strange
+it was to emerge from the end of the lane and to see those wonderful
+words, "To LONDON," "To YORK!"  What an opening into infinity!  Boys
+of a slightly imaginative turn of mind--for there were boys with
+imagination even in Cowfold--would, on a holiday trudge the three
+miles eastward merely to get to the post and enjoy the romance of
+those mysterious fingers.  No wonder; for the excitement begotten by
+the long stretch of the road--London at one end, York at the other--
+by the sight of the Star, Rover, Eclipse, or Times racing along at
+twelve miles an hour, and by the inscriptions on them, was worth a
+whole afternoon's cricket or wandering in the fields.  Cowfold itself
+supplied no such stimulus.  The only thing like it was the mail-cart,
+which every evening took the letters from the post-office,
+disappeared into the dark, nobody could tell whither, and brought
+letters in the morning, nobody could tell whence, before the
+inhabitants were out of bed.  There was a vague belief that it went
+about fifteen miles and "caught" something somewhere; but nobody knew
+for certain, except the postmistress and the mail-cart driver, who
+were always remarkably reticent on the point.  The driver was dressed
+in red, carried a long horn slung at the side of the cart, and was
+popularly believed also to have pistols with him.  He never accosted
+anybody; sat on a solitary perch just big enough for him; swayed
+always backwards and forwards a little in a melancholy fashion as he
+rode; was never seen during the day-time, and was not, in any proper
+sense, a Cowfold person.
+
+Cowfold had four streets, or, more correctly, only two, which crossed
+one another at right angles in the middle of the town, and formed
+there a kind of square or open place, in which, on Saturdays, a
+market was held.
+
+The "Angel" was in this square, and the shops grouped themselves
+round it.  In the centre was a large pump with a great leaden spout
+that had a hole bored in it at the side.  By stopping up the mouth of
+the spout with the hand it was possible through this hole to get a
+good drink, if a friend was willing to work the handle; and as the
+square was a public playground, the pump did good service, especially
+amongst the boys, all of whom preferred it greatly to a commonplace
+mug.  On Sundays it was invariably chained up; for although it was no
+breach of the Sabbath to use the pump in the backyard, the line was
+drawn there, and it would have been voted by nine-tenths of Cowfold
+as decidedly immoral to get water from the one outside.  The shops
+were a draper's, a grocer's, an ironmonger's, a butcher's and a
+baker's.  All these were regular shops, with shop-windows, and were
+within sight of one another.
+
+There were also other houses where things were sold; but these were
+mere dwelling-houses, and were at the poorer and more remote ends of
+Cowfold.  None of the regular shops aforesaid were strictly what they
+professed to be.  Each of them diverged towards "the general."  The
+draper sold boots and shoes; the grocer sold drugs, stationery, horse
+and cow medicines, and sheep ointment; and the ironmonger dealt in
+crockery.  Even the butcher was more than a butcher, for he was never
+to be seen at his chopping block, and his wife did all the retail
+work.  He himself was in the "jobbing" line, and was always jogging
+about in a cart, in the hind part of which, covered with a net, was a
+calf or a couple of pigs.  Three out of the four streets ran out in
+cottages; but one was more aristocratic.  This was Church Street,
+which contained the church and the parsonage.  It also had in it four
+red brick houses, each surrounded with large gardens.  In one lived a
+brewer who had a brewery in Cowfold, and owned a dozen beer-shops in
+the neighbourhood; another was a seminary for young ladies; in the
+third lived the doctor; and in the fourth old Mr. and Mrs. Muston,
+who had no children, had been there for fifty years; and this, so far
+as Cowfold was aware, was all their history.  Mr. and Mrs. Muston and
+the seminary were the main strength of the church.  To be sure the
+doctor and the landlord of the "Angel" professed devotion to the
+Establishment, but they were never inside the church, except just now
+and then, and were charitably excused because of their peculiar
+calling.  The rest of Cowfold was Dissenting or "went nowhere."
+There were three chapels; one the chapel, orthodox, Independent,
+holding about seven hundred persons, and more particularly to be
+described presently; the second Wesleyan, new, stuccoed, with grained
+doors and cast-iron railing; the third, strict Baptist, ultra-
+Calvinistic, Antinomian according to the other sects, dark, down an
+alley, mean, surrounded by a small long-grassed graveyard, and named
+ZOAR in large letters over the long window in front.  The "went
+nowhere" class was apparently not very considerable.  On Sunday
+morning at twelve o'clock Cowfold looked as if it had been swept
+clean.  It was only by comparison between the total number of church-
+goers and chapel-goers and the total population that it could be
+believed that there was anybody absent from the means of grace; but
+if a view could have been taken of the back premises an explanation
+would have been discovered.  Men and women "did up their gardens," or
+found, for a variety of reasons, that they were forced to stay at
+home.  In the evening they grew bolder, and strolled through the
+meadows.  It is, however, only fair to respectable Cowfold to say
+that it knew nothing of these creatures, except by employing them on
+week-days.
+
+With regard to the Wesleyan Chapel, nothing much need be said.  Its
+creed was imported, and it had no roots in the town.  The Church
+disliked it because it was Dissenting, and the Dissenters disliked it
+because it was half-Church, and, above all, Tory.  It was supported
+mainly by the brewer, who was drawn thither for many reasons, one of
+which was political.  Another was, that he was not in trade, and
+although he objected to be confounded with his neighbours who stood
+behind counters, the Church did not altogether suit him, because
+there Mr. and Mrs. Muston and the seminary stood in his way.  Lastly,
+as he owned beer-shops, supplied liquor which was a proverb
+throughout the county, and did a somewhat doubtful business according
+to the more pious of the Cowfold Christians, he preferred to be
+accredited as a religious person by Methodism than by any other sect,
+the stamp of Methodism standing out in somewhat higher relief.
+
+As for Zoar, it was a place apart.  Its minister was a big, large-
+jawed, heavy-eyed man, who lived in a little cottage hard by.  His
+wife was a very plain-looking person, who wore even on Sundays a
+cotton gown without any ornament, and who took her husband's arm as
+they walked down the lane to the chapel.  The Independent minister,
+the Wesleyan minister, and, of course, the rector had nothing to do
+with the minister of Zoar.  This was not because of any heresy or
+difference of doctrine, but because he was a poor man and poor
+persons sat under him.  Nevertheless he was not in any way a
+characteristic Calvinist.  The Calvinistic creed was stuck in him as
+in a lump of fat, and had no organising influence upon him whatever.
+He had no weight in Cowfold, took part in none of its affairs, and
+his ministrations were confined to about fifty sullen, half stupid,
+wholly ignorant people who found in the Zoar services something
+sleepier and requiring less mental exertion than they needed
+elsewhere; although it must be said that the demands made upon the
+intellect in none of the places of worship were very extensive.
+There was a small endowment attached to Zoar, and on this, with the
+garden and house rent free, the minister lived.  Once now and then--
+perhaps once in every three or four years--there was a baptism in
+Zoar, and at such times it was crowded.  The children of the
+congregation, as a rule fell away from it as they grew up; but
+occasionally a girl remained faithful and was formally admitted to
+its communion.  In front of the pulpit was an open space usually
+covered; but the boards could be taken up, and then a large kind of
+tank was disclosed, which was filled with water when the ceremony was
+performed.  After hymns had been sung the minister went down into the
+water, and the candidate appeared dressed in a long white robe very
+much like a night-gown.  The dear sister, during a short address,
+stood on the brink of the tank for a few moments, and then descended
+into it beside the minister, who, taking her by the neck and round
+the waist, ducked her fairly and completely.  She emerged, and walked
+dripping into the vestry, where it was always said that hot brandy
+and water was ready.
+
+Many of us have felt that we would give all our books if we could but
+see with our own eyes how a single day was passed by a single ancient
+Jewish, Greek, or Roman family; how the house was opened in the
+morning; how the meals were prepared; what was said; how the husband,
+wife, and children went about their work; what clothes they wore, and
+what were their amusements.  Would that the present historian could
+do as much for Cowfold!  Would that he could bring back one blue
+summer morning, one afternoon and evening, and reproduce exactly what
+happened in Cowfold Square, in one of the Cowfold shops, in one of
+the Cowfold parlours, and in one Cowfold brain and heart.  Could this
+be done with strictest accuracy, a book would be written, although
+Cowfold was not Athens, Rome, nor Jerusalem, which would live for
+many many years longer than much of the literature of this century.
+But alas! the preliminary image in the mind of the writer is faint
+enough, and when he comes to trace it, the pencil swerves and goes
+off into something utterly unlike it.  An attempt, however, to show
+what the waking hours in Cowfold Square were like may not be out of
+place.  The shopkeeper came into his shop at half-past seven, about
+half an hour after the shutters had been taken down by his
+apprentice.  At eight o'clock breakfast was ready; but before
+breakfast there was family worship, and a chapter was read from the
+Bible, followed by an extempore prayer from the head of the
+household.  If the master happened to be absent, it was not
+considered proper that the mistress should pray extempore, and she
+used a book of "Family Devotions."  A very solid breakfast followed,
+and business began.  It was very slow, but it was very human--much
+more so than business at the present day in the City.  Every customer
+had something to say beyond his own immediate errand, and the shop
+was the place where everything touching Cowfold interests was
+abundantly discussed.  Cowfold too, did much trade in the country
+round it.  Most of the inhabitants kept a gig, and two or three
+times, perhaps, in a week a journey somewhere or other was necessary
+which was not in the least like a journey in a railway train.  Debts
+in the villages were collected by the creditor in person, who called
+and invited his debtors to a most substantial dinner at the inn.  At
+one o'clock Cowfold dined.  Between one and two nobody was to be seen
+in the streets, and the doors were either fastened or a bell was put
+upon them.  After dinner the same duties returned in the shop; but
+inside the house dinner was the turning-point of the day.  When the
+"things were washed, up," servant and mistress began to smarten
+themselves, and disappearing into their bedrooms, emerged at four, to
+make preparations for tea, the meal most enjoyed in all Cowfold.  If
+any spark of wit slept in any Cowfoldian male or female, it appeared
+then.  No invitations to dinner were ever heard of; but tea was the
+opportunity for hospitality, especially amongst women.  The minister,
+when he visited, invariably came to tea.  The news circulated at tea,
+and, in fact, at tea between five and six, Cowfold, if its intellect
+could have been measured by a properly constructed gauge, would have
+been found many degrees higher in the scale than at any other hour.
+Granted that the conversation was personal, trivial, and even
+scandalous, it was in a measure philosophical.  Cowfold, though it
+knew nothing, or next to nothing of abstractions, took immense
+interest in the creatures in which they were embodied.  It would have
+turned a deaf ear to any debate on the nature of ethical obligation;
+but it was very keen indeed in apportioning blame to its neighbours
+who had sinned, and in deciding how far they had gone wrong.  Cowfold
+in other words believed that flesh and blood, and not ideas, are the
+school and the religion for most of us, and that we learn a language
+by the examples rather than by the rules.  The young scholar fresh
+from his study is impatient at what he considers the unprofitable
+gossip about the people round the corner; but when he gets older he
+sees that often it is much better than his books, and that
+distinctions are expressed by a washerwoman, if the objects to be
+distinguished eat and drink and sleep, which he would find it
+difficult to make with his symbols.  Moreover, the little Cowfold
+clubs and parties understood what they were saying, and so far had an
+advantage over the clubs and parties which, since the days of penny
+newspapers, now discuss in Cowfold the designs of Russia, the
+graduation of the Income Tax, or the merits and demerits of the
+administration.  The Cowfold horizon has now been widened, to use the
+phrase of an enlightened gentleman who came down and lectured there
+on the criminality of the advertisement duty; but unfortunately the
+eyes remain the same.  Cowfold now looks abroad, and is very eloquent
+upon the fog in the distance, and the objects it thinks it sees
+therein; but, alas! what it has gained in inclusive breadth it has
+lost in definition.  Politics, however, were not unknown in Cowfold;
+for before 1832 it was a borough, and after 1832 it was one of the
+principal polling-places for the county.  Nevertheless it was only on
+the eve of an election that anybody dabbled in them, and even then
+they were very rudimentary.  The science to most of the voters meant
+nothing more than a preference of blue to yellow, or yellow to blue;
+and women had nothing whatever to do with it, excepting that wives
+always, of course, took their husbands' colours.  Politics, too, as a
+rule, were not mentioned in private houses.  They were mostly
+reserved for the "Angel," and for the brandies and water and pipes
+which collected there in the evening.
+
+To return.  After tea the master went back once more to his counter,
+and the shutters were put up at eight.  From eight to nine was an
+hour of which no account can be given:  The lights were left burning
+in the shops, and the neighbour across the way looked in and remained
+talking till his supper was ready.  Supper at nine, generally hot,
+was an institution never omitted, and, like tea, was convivial; but
+the conviviality was of a distinctly lower order.  Everybody had
+whisky, gin, or brandy afterwards, and every male person who was of
+age smoked.  There was, as a rule, no excess, but the remarks were
+apt to be disconnected and woolly; and the wife, who never had grog
+for herself, but always sipped her husband's went to sleep.  Eleven
+o'clock saw all Cowfold in bed, and disturbed only by such dreams as
+were begotten of the previous liver and bacon and alcohol.
+
+There were no villains amongst that portion of the inhabitants with
+which this history principally concerns itself, nor was a single
+adventure of any kind ever known to happen beyond the adventures of
+being born, getting married, falling sick, and dying, with now and
+then an accident from a gig.  Consequently it might be though that
+there was no romance in Cowfold.  There could not be a greater
+mistake.  The history of every boy or girl of ordinary make is one of
+robbery, murder, imprisonment, death sentence, filing of chains,
+scaling of prison walls, recapture, scaffold, reprieve, poison, and
+pistols; the difference between such a history and that in the
+authorised versions being merely circumstantial.  The garden of Eden,
+the murder of Cain, the deluge, the salvation of Noah, the exodus
+from Egypt, David and Bathsheba, with the murder of Uriah, the
+Assyrian invasion, the Incarnation, the Atonement, and the
+Resurrection from the Dead; to say nothing of the Decline and Fall of
+the Roman Empire, the tragedy of Count Cenci, the execution of Mary
+Queen of Scots, the Inquisition in Spain, and Revolt of the
+Netherlands, all happened in Cowfold, as well as elsewhere, and were
+perhaps more interesting there because they could be studied in
+detail and the records were authentic.
+
+Church Street, Cowfold--that is to say, the street in which the
+church stood--was tolerably broad going east and west, so that the
+sun shone full on the white window-frames and red brick of Mr.
+Muston's house, in which everything seemed to sleep in eternal calm.
+On the opposite side was the seminary, also red brick and white
+paint, facing the north; but, to make amends, the garden had a
+southern aspect, and the back of the house was covered with a huge
+magnolia whose edges curled round to the western side, so that it
+could be seen by wayfarers.  It was a sight not to be forgotten--the
+red brick, the white paint, the July sun the magnolia leaves, the
+flanking elms on the east high above the chimneys, the glimpse of the
+acre of lawn through the great gates when they happened to be open,
+the peace, so profound, of summer noon!  How lovely it looks as it
+hovers unsteadily before the eye, seen through the transfiguring haze
+of so many years!  It was really, there is no doubt about it,
+handsomer than the stuccoed villa which stares at us over the way;
+but yet, if Cowfold Church Street, red brick, white paint, elms,
+lawn, and midsummer repose could be restored at the present moment,
+would it be exactly what the vision of it is?  What is this magic
+gift which even for the humblest of us paints and frames these
+enchanting pictures?  It is nothing less than the genius which is
+common to humanity.  If we are not able to draw or model, we possess
+the power to select, group, and clothe with an ideal grace, which is
+the very soul of art, and every man and woman, every bush, nay, every
+cabbage, cup, and saucer, provided only it be not actually before us,
+becomes part of a divine picture.  Would that we could do with the
+present what we do with the past!  We CAN do something if we try.
+
+At the end of Church Street came the vicarage, and then the
+churchyard, with the church.  Beyond was the park, which half
+embraced Cowfold, for it was possible to enter it not only from
+Church Street, but from North Street, which ran at right angles to
+it.  The Hall was not much.  It was a large plain stone mansion,
+built in the earlier part of the eighteenth century; but in front of
+the main entrance was a double row of limes stretching for a quarter
+of a mile, and the whole of the park was broken up into soft swelling
+hills, from whose tops, owing to the flatness of the country round,
+an almost immeasurable distance could be seen, gradually losing
+itself in deepening mist of tenderest blue.  The park, too, was not
+rigidly circumscribed.  Public roads led through it.  It melted on
+two or three sides into cultivated fields, and even the private
+garden of the Hall seemed a part of it, for there was nothing between
+them but a kind of grassy ditch and an almost invisible fence.  The
+domain of Cowfold Hall was the glory of Cowfold and the pride of its
+inhabitants.  The modern love of scenery was not known in Cowfold,
+and still less was that worship of landscape and nature known which,
+as before observed, is peculiar to the generation born under the
+influence of Wordsworth.  We have learnt, however, from Zachariah
+that even before Wordsworth's days people were sometimes touched by
+dawn or sunset.  The morning cheered, the moon lent pathos and
+sentiment, and the stars awoke unanswerable interrogations in
+Cowfold, although it knew no poetry, save Dr. Watts, Pollok's Course
+of Time, and here and there a little of Cowper.  Under the avenue,
+too, whose slender columns, in triple rows on either side, rose to an
+immense height, and met in a roof overhead with all the grace of
+cathedral stone, and without its superincumbent weight and
+imprisonment--a roof that was not impervious to the sunlight, but let
+it pass and fall in quivering flakes on the ground--Cowfold generally
+took off its hat, partly, no doubt, because the place was cool, but
+also as an act of homage.  Here and in the woods adjoining youths and
+maidens for three hundred years had walked and made love, for, though
+the existing house was new, it stood on the site of a far older
+building.  Dead men and women, lord and churl, gone to
+indistinguishable dust, or even beyond that--gone perhaps, into
+vapour and gas, which had been blown to New Zealand, and become men
+and women again--had burned with passion here, and vowed a union
+which was to last beyond the Judgment Day.  They wept here,
+quarrelled here, rushed again into one another's arms here, swore to
+one another here, when Henry the Eighth was king; and they wept here,
+quarrelled here, embraced here, swore here, in exactly the same mad
+fashion, when William the Fourth sat upon the throne.  Half-way up
+the avenue was a stone pillar commanding a gentle descent, one way to
+the Hall, and the other way to the lodge.  It set forth the anguish
+of a former lord of the time of Queen Anne, who had lost his wife
+when she was twenty-six years old.  She was beneath him in rank, but
+very beautiful, and his affection for her had fought with and
+triumphed over the cruel opposition of father, mother, and relations,
+who had other designs.  He had made enemies of them all; but he won
+his wife, and, casting her in the scale, father, mother, and friends
+were as gossamer.  She died two years after the wedding--to the very
+day.  Rich in her love, he had never taken a thought to propitiate
+anybody, nor to make friends with the Mammon of Unrighteousness, and
+when she suddenly departed, he turned round and found himself alone.
+So far from knocking at men's doors, he more fiercely hated those who
+now, touched with pity, would gladly have welcomed him.  He broke
+from them all, lived his own life, was reputed to be a freethinker,
+and when he came to his estate, a long while afterwards, he put up
+the obelisk, and recorded in Latin how Death, the foul adulterer, had
+ravished his sweet bride--the coward Death whom no man could
+challenge--and that the inconsolable bridegroom had erected this
+monument in memory of her matchless virtues.  That was all:  no
+blessed resurrection nor trust in the Saviour.  The Reverend John
+Broad, minister of Tanner's Lane Chapel, when he brought visitors
+here regularly translated the epitaph.  He was not very good at
+Latin, but he had somehow found out its meaning.  He always observed
+that it was not classic, and consequently not easy to render.  He
+pointed out, too, as a further curiosity, which somewhat increased
+the difficulty to any ordinary person, that V was used for U, and I
+for J.  He never, as might be expected, omitted to enlarge upon the
+omission of any reference to the Atoning Blood and the Life to Come,
+and remarked how the poor man's sufferings would have been entirely
+"assuaged"--a favourite word with Mr. Broad--if he had believed in
+those "remedies."  At the same time Mr. Broad dwelt upon the
+"associations" of the avenue, which, he thought, added much to its
+natural "attractiveness."  Cowfold thought so too, and welcomed the
+words as exactly expressing what it felt.  John Broad and Cowfold
+were right, and more right, perhaps, than they knew.  The draper's
+young man, who walked through the park with his arm round his young
+woman's waist, looked up at the obelisk, repeated its story, and
+became more serious.  Thus it came to pass that the old lord's love
+lived again somewhat in the apprentice, and that which to the
+apprentice seemed most particularly himself was a little bit of the
+self of the Queen Anne's earl long since asleep in the vault under
+Cowfold Church.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII--WHEN WILT THOU ARISE OUT OF THY SLEEP?  YET A LITTLE
+SLEEP
+
+
+
+The Reverend John Broad was minister of Tanner's Lane Chapel, or,
+more properly, Meeting-house, a three gabled building, with the date
+1688 upon it, which stood in a short street leading out of North
+Street.  Why it was called Tanner's Lane nobody knew; for not in the
+memory of man had any tanner carried on his trade there.  There was
+nothing of any consequence in it but the meeting-house, and when
+people said Tanner's Lane this was what they meant.  There were about
+seven hundred and fifty sittings in it, and on Sundays it was
+tolerably full, for it was attended by large numbers of people from
+the surrounding villages, who came in gigs and carts, and brought
+their dinners with them, which they ate in the vestry.  It was, in
+fact, the centre of the Dissenting activity for a whole district.  It
+had small affiliated meeting-houses in places like Sheepgate,
+Hackston Green, and Bull's Cross, in which service was held on Sunday
+evening by the deacons of Tanner's Lane, or by some of the young men
+whom Mr. Broad prepared to be missionaries.  For a great many years
+the congregation had apparently undergone no change in character; but
+the uniformity was only apparent.  The fervid piety of Cowper's time
+and of the Evangelical revival was a thing almost of the past.  The
+Reverend John Broad was certainly not of the Revival type.  He was a
+big, gross-feeding, heavy person, with heavy ox-face and large mouth,
+who might have been bad enough for anything if nature had ordained
+that he should have been born in a hovel at Sheepgate or in the Black
+Country.  As it happened, his father was a woollen draper, and John
+was brought up to the trade as a youth; got tired of it, thought he
+might do something more respectable; went to a Dissenting College;
+took charge of a little chapel in Buckinghamshire; married early; was
+removed to Tanner's Lane, and became a preacher of the Gospel.  He
+was moderate in all of what he called his "views;" neither ultra-
+Calvinist nor Arminian not rigid upon Baptism, and certainly much
+unlike his lean and fervid predecessor, the Reverend James Harden,
+M.A., who was educated at Cambridge; threw up all his chances there
+when he became convinced of sin; cast in his lot with the
+Independents, and wrestled even unto blood with the world, the flesh,
+and the devil in Cowfold for thirty years, till he was gathered to
+his rest.  A fiery, ardent, untamable soul was Harden's, bold and
+uncompromising.  He never scrupled to tell anybody what he thought,
+and would send an arrow sharp and swift through any iniquity, no
+matter where it might couch.  He absolutely ruled Cowfold, hated by
+many, beloved by many, feared by all--a genuine soldier of the Cross.
+Mr. Broad very much preferred the indirect mode of doing good, and if
+he thought a brother had done wrong, contented himself with praying
+in private for him.  He was, however, not a hypocrite, that is to
+say, not an ordinary novel or stage hypocrite.  There is no such
+thing as a human being simply hypocritical or simply sincere.  We are
+all hypocrites, more or less, in every word and every action, and,
+what is more, in every thought.  It is a question simply of degree.
+Furthermore, there are degrees of natural capacity for sincerity, and
+Mr. Broad was probably as sincere as his build of soul and body
+allowed him to be.  Certainly no doubt as to the truth of what he
+preached ever crossed his mind.  He could not doubt, for there was no
+doubt in the air; and yet he could not believe as Harden believed,
+for neither was Harden's belief now in the air.  Nor was Mr. Broad a
+criminal in any sense.  He was upright, on the whole, in all his
+transactions, although a little greedy and hard, people thought, when
+the trustees proposed to remit to Widow Oakfield, on her husband's
+death, half the rent of a small field belonging to the meeting-house,
+and contributing a modest sum to Mr. Broad's revenue.  He objected.
+Widow Oakfield was poor; but then she did not belong to Tanner's
+Lane, and was said to have relations who could help her.  Mr. Broad
+loved his wife decently, brought up his children decently, and not
+the slightest breath of scandal ever tarnished his well-polished
+reputation.  On some points he was most particular, and no young
+woman who came to him with her experience before she was admitted
+into the church was ever seen by him alone.  Always was a deacon
+present, and all Cowfold admitted that the minister was most
+discreet.  Another recommendation, too, was that he was temperate in
+his drink.  He was not so in his meat.  Supper was his great meal,
+and he would then consume beef, ham, or sausages, hot potatoes, mixed
+pickles, fruit pies, bread, cheese, and celery in quantities which
+were remarkable even in those days; but he never drank anything but
+beer--a pint at dinner and a pint at supper.
+
+On one Monday afternoon in July, 1840, Mr. and Mrs. Broad sat at tea
+in the study.  This was Mr. Broad's habit on Monday afternoon.  On
+that day, after the three sermons on the Sunday, he always professed
+himself "Mondayish."  The morning was given over to calling in the
+town; when he had dined he slept in his large leathern chair; and at
+five husband and wife had tea by themselves.  Thomas, the eldest son,
+and his two younger sisters, Priscilla and Tryphosa, aged seventeen
+and fifteen, were sent to the dining-room.  Mr. Broad never omitted
+this custom of spending an hour and a half on Monday with Mrs. Broad.
+It gave them an opportunity of talking over the affairs of the
+congregation, and it added to Mr. Broad's importance with the
+missionary students, because they saw how great were the weight and
+fatigue of the pastoral office.
+
+A flock like that which was shepherded by Mr. Broad required some
+management.  Mrs. Broad took the women, and Mr. Broad the men; but
+Mrs. Broad was not a very able tactician.  She was a Flavel by birth,
+and came from a distant part of the country.  Her father was a
+Dissenting minister; but he was Dr. Flavel, with a great chapel in a
+great town.  Consequently she gave herself airs, and occasionally let
+fall, to the great displeasure of the Cowfold ladies, words which
+implied some disparagement of Cowfold.  She was a shortish, stout,
+upright little woman, who used a large fan and spoke with an accent
+strange to the Midlands.  She was not a great help to the minister,
+because she was not sufficiently flexible and insinuating for her
+position; but nevertheless they always worked together, and she
+followed as well as she could the directions of her astuter husband,
+who, considering his bovine cast, was endowed with quite a
+preternatural sagacity in the secular business of his profession.
+
+On this particular afternoon, however, the subject of the
+conversation was not the congregation, but young Thomas Broad, aged
+eighteen, the exact, and almost ridiculously exact, counterpart of
+his father.  He had never been allowed to go to school, but had been
+taught at home.  There was only one day-school in Cowfold, and his
+mother objected to the "mixture."  She had been heard to say as much,
+and Cowfold resented this too, and the Cowfold youths resented it by
+holding Tommy Broad in extreme contempt.  He had never been properly
+a boy, for he could play at no boyish games; had a tallowy,
+unpleasant complexion, went for formal walks, and carried gloves.
+But though in a sense incompletely developed, he was not incompletely
+developed in another direction.  He was at what is called an awkward
+age, and both father and mother had detected in him an alarming
+tendency to enjoy the society of young women--a tendency much
+stimulated by his unnatural mode of life.  Thomas was already a
+member of the church and was a teacher in the Sunday-school; but his
+mother was uneasy, for a serious attachment between Thomas and
+anybody in the town would have been very distasteful to her.  The tea
+having been poured out, and Mr. Broad having fairly settled down upon
+the buttered toast and radishes, Mrs. Broad began:
+
+"Have you thought anything more about Thomas, my dear?"
+
+Being a minister's son, he was never called Tom by either papa or
+mamma.
+
+"Yes, my love; but it is very difficult to know how to proceed
+judiciously in such a case."
+
+"Mrs. Allen asked me, last Wednesday, when he was going to leave
+home, and I told her we had not made up our minds.  She said that her
+brother in Birmingham wanted a youth in his office, but my answer was
+directly that we had quite determined that Thomas should not enter
+into any trade."
+
+"What did she say?"
+
+"That she was not surprised, for she hardly thought Thomas was fitted
+for it."
+
+The minister looked grave and perplexed, for Mr. Allen was in trade,
+and was a deacon.  Mrs. Broad proceeded:
+
+"I am quite sure Thomas ought to be a minister; and I am quite sure,
+too, he ought to leave Cowfold and go to college."
+
+"Don't you think this event might be procrastinated; the expense
+would be considerable."
+
+"Well, my dear, Fanny Allen came here to tea the day before
+yesterday.  When she went away she could not find her clogs.  I was
+on the landing, and saw what happened, though they did not think it.
+Fanny's brother was waiting outside.  Priscilla had gone somewhere
+far the moment--I don't know where--and Tryphosa was upstairs.
+Thomas said he would look for the clogs, and presently I saw him
+fastening them for her.  Then he walked with her down the garden.  I
+just went into the front bedroom and looked.  It was not very dark,
+and,--well, I may be mistaken, but I do believe--"  The rest of the
+sentence was wanting.  Mrs. Broad stopped at this point.  She felt it
+was more becoming to do so.  She shifted on her chair with a fidgety
+motion, threw her head back a little, looked up at the portrait of
+Dr. Flavel in gown and bands which hung over the fireplace,
+straightened her gown upon her knees, and pushed it forward over her
+feet so as to cover them altogether--a mute protest against the
+impropriety of the scene she had partly described.  Mr. Broad
+inwardly would have liked her to go on; but he always wore his white
+neckerchief, except when he was in bed, and he was still the Reverend
+John Broad, although nobody but his wife was with him.  He therefore
+refrained, but after a while slowly observed:
+
+"Thomas has not made much progress in systematic theology."
+
+"They do not require much on admission, do they?  He knows the
+outlines, and I am sure the committee will recollect my father and be
+glad to get Thomas.  I have heard that the social position of the
+candidates is not what it used to be, and that they wish to obtain
+some of a superior stamp, who ultimately may be found adapted to
+metropolitan churches."
+
+"One of the questions last year, my dear, was upon the office of the
+Comforter, and you remember Josiah Collins was remanded.  I hardly
+think Thomas is sufficiently instructed on that subject at present;
+and there are others.  On the whole, it is preferable that he should
+not go till September twelvemonths."
+
+"His personal piety would have weight."
+
+"Undoubtedly."
+
+There was a pause, and Mrs. Broad then continued:
+
+"Well, my dear, you know best; but what about Fanny?  I shall not ask
+her again.  How very forward, and indeed altogether"--Another
+stoppage, another twitch at her gown, with another fidget on the
+chair, the eyes going up to Dr. Flavel's bands as before.  "In OUR
+house too--to put herself in Thomas's way!"
+
+Ah!  Mrs. Broad, are you sure Thomas did not go out of his way--even
+in your house, that eminently respectable, eminently orthodox
+residence--even Thomas, your Samuel, who had been granted to the
+Lord, and who, to use his own words when his written religious
+autobiography was read at the church-meeting, being the child of
+pious parents, and of many prayers, had never been exposed to those
+assaults of the enemy of souls which beset ordinary young men, and
+consequently had not undergone a sudden conversion?
+
+"But," observed Mr. Broad, leaning back in his easy-chair, and half
+covering his face with his great broad, fat hand, "we shall offend
+the Allens if Fanny does not come, and we shall injure the cause."
+
+"Has George Allen, Fanny's brother, prayed at the prayer-meeting yet?
+He was admitted two months ago."
+
+"No."
+
+"Then ask his father to let him pray; and we need not invite Fanny
+till Thomas has left."
+
+The papa objected that perhaps Thomas might go to the Allen's, but
+the mamma, with Dr. Flavel's bands before her, assured him that
+Thomas would do nothing of the kind.  So it was settled that Mr.
+Broad should call at the Allen's to-morrow, and suggest that George
+should "engage" on the following Thursday.  This, it was confidently
+hoped, would prevent any suspicion on their part that Fanny had been
+put aside.  Of course, once having begun, George would be regularly
+on the list.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII--A RELIGIOUS PICNIC
+
+
+
+Occasionally, in the summer months, Tanner's Lane indulged in a
+picnic; that is to say, the principal members of the congregation,
+with their wives and children, had an early dinner, and went in gigs
+and four-wheel chaises to Shott Woods, taking hampers of bread, cake,
+jam, butter, ham, and other eatables with them.  At Shott Woods, in a
+small green space under an immense oak, a fire was lighted and tea
+was prepared.  Mr. Broad and his family always joined the party.
+These were the days when Dissenters had no set amusements, and the
+entertainment at Shott mainly consisted in getting the sticks for the
+fire, fetching the water, and waiting on one another; the waiting
+being particularly pleasant to the younger people.  Dancing, of
+course, was not thought of.  In 1840 it may safely be said that there
+were not twenty Independent families in Great Britain in which it
+would have been tolerated, and, moreover, none but the rich learned
+to dance.
+
+No dancing-master ever came into Cowfold; there was no music-master
+there; no concert was ever given; and Cowfold, in fact, never "saw
+nor heard anything;" to use a modern phrase, save a travelling
+menagerie with a brass band.  What an existence!  How DID they live?
+It's certain, however, that they did live, and, on the whole, enjoyed
+their life.
+
+The picnics were generally on a Monday, as a kind of compliment to
+Mr. Broad, who was supposed to need rest and change on Monday, and
+who was also supposed not to be able to spare the time on any other
+day.  About a month after the conversation recorded in the previous
+chapter Tanner's Lane was jogging along to Shott on one of its
+excursions.  It was a brilliant, blazing afternoon towards the end of
+August.  The corn stood in shocks, and a week with that sun would see
+it all stacked.  There was no dreary suburb round Cowfold, neither
+town nor country, to shut out country influences.  The fields came up
+to the gardens and orchards at the back of half the houses, and
+flowed irregularly, like an inundation, into the angles of the
+streets.  As you walked past the great gate of the "Angel" yard you
+could see the meadow at the bottom belonging to Hundred Acres.
+Consequently all Cowfold took an interest in agriculture, and knew a
+good deal about it.  Every shopkeeper was half a farmer, and
+understood the points of a pig or a horse.  Cowfold was not a town
+properly speaking, but the country a little thickened and congested.
+The conversation turned upon the crops, and more particularly upon
+turnips and drainage, both of them a new importation.  Hitherto all
+the parishes round had no drainage whatever, excepting along the
+bottoms of the ridges, and the now familiar red pipes had just made
+their appearance on a farm belonging to a stranger to those parts--a
+young fellow from Norfolk.  Everybody was sceptical, and called him a
+fool.  Everybody wanted to know how water was going to get through
+fifteen inches of heavy land when it would lie for two days where a
+horse trod.  However, the pipes went in, and it so happened that the
+first wet day after they were laid was a Sunday.  The congregation in
+Shott Church was very restless, although the sermon was unusually
+short.  One by one they crept out, and presently they were followed
+by the parson.  All of them had collected in the pouring rain and
+were watching the outfall in the ditches.  To their unspeakable
+amazement the pipes were all running!  Shott scratched its head and
+was utterly bewildered.  A new idea in a brain not accustomed to the
+invasion of ideas produces a disturbance like a revolution.  It
+causes giddiness almost as bad as that of a fit, and an extremely
+unpleasant sensation of having been whirled round and turned head
+over heels.  It was the beginning of new things in Shott, the
+beginning of a breakdown in its traditions; a belief in something
+outside the ordinary parochial uniformities was forced into the skull
+of every man, woman, and child by the evidence of the senses; and
+when other beliefs asked, in the course of time, for admittance they
+found the entrance easier than it would have been otherwise.
+
+The elderly occupants of the Tanner's Lane gigs and chaises talked
+exclusively upon these and other cognate topics.  The sons and
+daughters talked about other things utterly unworthy of any record in
+a serious history.  Delightful their chatter was to them.  What does
+it signify to eighteen years what is said on such an afternoon by
+seventeen years, when seventeen years is in a charming white muslin
+dress, with the prettiest hat?  Words are of importance between me
+and you, who care little or nothing for one another.  But there is a
+thrice blessed time when words are nothing.  The real word is that
+which is not uttered.  We may be silent, or we may be eloquent with
+nonsense or sense--it is all one.  So it was between George Allen and
+Miss Priscilla Broad, who at the present moment were sitting next to
+one another.  George was a broad, hearty, sandy-haired, sanguine-
+faced young fellow of one and twenty, eldest son of the ironmonger.
+His education had been that of the middle classes of those days.
+Leaving school at fourteen, he had been apprenticed to his father for
+seven years, and had worked at the forge down the backyard before
+coming into the front shop.  On week-days he generally wore a
+waistcoat with sleeves and a black apron.  He was never dirty; in
+fact, he was rather particular as to neatness and cleanliness; but he
+was always a little dingy and iron-coloured, as retail ironmongers
+are apt to be.  He was now in charge of the business under his
+father; stood behind the counter; weighed nails; examined locks
+brought for repair; went to the different houses in Cowfold with a
+man under him to look at boiler-pipes, the man wearing a cap and
+George a tall hat.  He had a hard, healthy, honest life, was up at
+six o'clock in the morning, ate well, and slept well.  He was always
+permitted by his father to go on these excursions, and, in fact, they
+could not have been a success without him.  If anything went wrong he
+was always the man to set it right.  If a horse became restive,
+George was invariably the one to jump out, and nobody else thought of
+stirring.  He had good expectations.  The house in which the Allens
+lived was their own.  Mr. Allen did a thriving trade, not only in
+Cowfold, but in all the country round, and particularly among the
+village blacksmiths, to whom he sold iron.  He had steadily saved
+money, and had enlarged the original little back parlour into a room
+which would hold comfortably a tea-party of ten or a dozen.
+
+Miss Priscilla Broad was framed after a different model.  Her face
+was not much unlike that of one of those women of the Restoration so
+familiar to us in half a hundred pictures.  Not that Restoration
+levity and Restoration manners were chargeable to Miss Priscilla.
+She never forgot her parentage; but there were the same kind of
+prettiness, the same sideways look, the same simper about the lips,
+and there were the same flat unilluminated eyes.  She had darkish
+brown hair, which fell in rather formal curls on her shoulder, and
+she was commonly thought to be "delicate."  Like her sister and
+brother, she had never been to school, on account of the "mixture,"
+but had been taught by her mother.  Her accomplishments included
+Scripture and English history, arithmetic, geography, the use of the
+globes, and dates.  She had a very difficult part to play in Cowfold,
+for she was obliged to visit freely all Tanner's Lane, but at the
+same time to hold herself above it and not to form any exclusive
+friendships.  These would have been most injudicious, because, in the
+first place, they would have excited jealousy, and, in the next
+place, the minister's daughter could not be expected to be very
+intimate with anybody belonging to the congregation.  She was not
+particularly popular with the majority, and was even thought to be
+just a bit of a fool.  But what could she have been with such
+surroundings?  The time had passed when religion could be talked on
+week-days, and the present time, when ministers' children learn
+French, German, and Latin, and read selected plays of Shakespeare,
+had not come.  Miss Priscilla Broad found it very difficult, also, to
+steer her course properly amongst the young men in Cowfold.  Mrs.
+Broad would not have permitted any one of them for a moment to dream
+of an alliance with her family.  As soon might a Princess of the
+Blood Royal unite herself with an ordinary knight.  Miss Broad,
+however, as her resources within herself were not particularly
+strong, thought about little or nothing else than ensnaring the
+hearts of the younger Cowfold males--that is to say, the hearts which
+were converted, and yet she encouraged none of them, save by a
+general acceptance of little attentions, by little mincing smiles,
+and little mincing speeches.
+
+"Such a beautiful day," said George, "and such pleasant company!"
+
+"Really, Mr. Allen, don't you think it would have been pleasanter for
+you in front?"
+
+"What did you say, my dear?" came immediately from her mother, the
+ever-watchful dragon just before them.  She forthwith turned a little
+round, for the sun was on her left hand, and with her right eye kept
+Priscilla well in view for the rest of the journey.
+
+In the chaise behind pretty much the same story was told, but with a
+difference.  In the back part were Mr. Thomas Broad and Miss Fanny
+Allen.  The arrangement which brought these two together was most
+objectionable to Mrs. Broad; but unfortunately she was a little late
+in starting, and it was made before she arrived.  She could not,
+without insulting the Allens, have it altered; but she consoled
+herself by vowing that it should not stand on the return journey in
+the dusk.  Miss Fanny was flattered that the minister's son should be
+by her side, and the minister's son was not in the least deterred
+from playing with Miss Fanny by the weight of responsibility which
+oppressed and checked his sister.  He did not laugh much; he had not
+a nature for wholesome laughter, but he chuckled, lengthened his
+lips, half shut his eyes; asked his companion whether the rail did
+not hurt her, put his arm on the top, so that she might lean against
+it, and talked in a manner which even she would have considered a
+little silly and a little odd, if his position, that of a student for
+the ministry, had not surrounded him with such a halo of glory.
+
+Presently Shott Woods were reached; the parcels and hampers were
+unpacked, the fire was lit, the tea prepared, and the pastor asked a
+blessing.  Everybody sat on the grass, save the reverend gentleman
+and his wife, who had chairs which had been brought on purpose.  It
+would not have been considered proper that Mr. or Mrs. Broad should
+sit upon the grass, and indeed physically it would have been
+inconvenient to Mr. Broad to do so.  He ate his ham in considerable
+quantities, adding thereto much plumcake, and excusing himself on the
+ground that the ride had given him an appetite.  The meal being over,
+grace was said, and the victuals that were left were repacked.  About
+an hour remained before the return journey began.  This was usually
+passed in sauntering about or in walking to the springs, a mile away,
+down one of the grass drives.  Mrs. Broad never for a moment lost
+sight of Thomas, and pressed him as much as possible into her
+service; but when Mrs. Allen announced that the young people had all
+determined to go to the springs, Mrs. Broad could not hold out.
+Accordingly off they started, under strict orders to be back by
+eight.  They mixed themselves up pretty indiscriminately as they left
+their seniors; but after a while certain affinities displayed
+themselves, George being found with Priscilla, for example, and
+Thomas with Fanny.  The party kept together; but Thomas and Fanny
+lagged somewhat till they came to a little opening in the underwood,
+which Thomas said was a short cut, and he pressed her to try it with
+him.  She agreed, and they slipped out of sight nearly, but not,
+quite, unobserved.  Thomas professed himself afraid Fanny might be
+tired, and offered his arm.  She again consented, not without a
+flutter, and so they reached a clearing with three or four paths
+branching from it.  Thomas was puzzled, and as for Fanny, she knew
+nothing.  To add to their perplexity some drops of rain were felt.
+She was a little frightened, and was anxious to try one of the most
+likely tracks which looked, she thought, as if it went to the
+springs, where they could take shelter in the cottage with the
+others.  Thomas, however, was doubtful, and proposed that they should
+stand up in a shed which had been used for faggot-making.  The rain,
+which now came down heavily, enforced his arguments, and she felt
+obliged to stay till the shower had ceased.
+
+"Only think, Fanny," he said, "to be here alone with you!"
+
+He called her Fanny now; he had always called her Miss Allen before.
+
+"Yes," said she, not knowing what answer to make.
+
+"You are cold," he added, with a little trembling in his voice and a
+little more light than usual in his eyes.
+
+"Oh no, I am not cold."
+
+"I know you are," and he took her hand; "why, it is quite cold."
+
+"Oh dear no, Mr. Thomas, it is really not cold," and she made a
+movement to withdraw it, but it remained.
+
+The touch of the hand caused his voice to shake a little more than
+before.
+
+"I say you are cold; come a little closer to me.  What will your
+mamma say if you catch a chill?" and he drew Fanny a little nearer to
+him.  The thick blood now drove through him with increasing speed:
+everything seemed in a mist, and a little perspiration was on his
+forehead.  His arm found its way round Fanny's waist, and he pressed
+her closer and closer to him till his hot lips were upon her cheek.
+She made two or three futile attempts to release herself; but she
+might as well have striven with that brazen, red-hot idol who was
+made to clasp his victims to death.  She was frightened and screamed,
+when suddenly a strong man's voice was heard calling "Fanny, Fanny."
+It was her brother.  Knowing that she and Thomas had no umbrellas, he
+had brought them a couple.
+
+"But, Fanny," he cried, "did I not hear you scream?  What was the
+matter?"
+
+"Nothing," hastily interposed Thomas; "she thought she saw it
+lighten."  Fanny looked at Thomas for a moment; but she was scared
+and bewildered, and held her peace.
+
+The three went down to the rendezvous together, where the rest of the
+party had already assembled.  Mrs. Broad had been very uneasy when
+she found that Thomas and Fanny were the only absentees, and she had
+urged George the moment she saw him to look for his sister without a
+moment's delay.  The excuse of the rain was given and accepted; but
+Mrs. Broad felt convinced from Fanny's forward look that she had once
+more thrown herself in the way of her beloved child, her delicate
+Samuel.  She was increasingly anxious that he should go to college,
+and his papa promised at once to transmit the application.
+Meanwhile, in the few days left before the examination, he undertook
+to improve Thomas where he was weakest, that is to say, in Systematic
+Theology, and more particularly in the doctrine of the Comforter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX--"THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO LEAVEN"
+
+
+
+Mr. Isaac Allen, Fanny's father, was an ardent Whig in politics--what
+in later years would have been called a Radical.  He had been
+apprenticed in London, and had attended Mr. Bradshaw's ministrations
+there.  He was the chosen friend of Zachariah Coleman; but although
+he loved Zachariah, he had held but little intercourse with him
+during his first marriage.  There were family reasons for the
+estrangement, due principally to a quarrel between Mrs. Isaac and the
+first Mrs. Zachariah.  But after Mrs. Zachariah had died and her
+husband suffered so much Isaac was drawn to him again.  He was proud
+of him as a martyr for a good cause, and he often saw him when he
+went to London on business.
+
+It was in consequence of these London visits that books appeared on
+the little book-shelf in Cowfold Square which were to be found
+nowhere else in the town, at any rate not in the Dissenting portion
+of it.  It was a little bookcase, it is true, for people in country
+places were not great readers in those days; but Sir Walter Scott was
+there, and upstairs in Mr. Allen's room there was Byron--not an uncut
+copy, but one well used both by husband and wife.  Mrs. Allen was not
+a particularly robust woman, although she was energetic.  Often
+without warning, she would not make her appearance till twelve or one
+o'clock in the day, and would have her fire alight in her bedroom and
+take her breakfast in bed.  It was well understood when she was not
+at the table with the others that the house was to be kept quiet.
+After a cup of tea--nothing more--she rose and sat reading for a good
+two hours.  It was not that she was particularly unwell--she simply
+needed rest.  Every now and then retreat from the world and perfect
+isolation were a necessity to her.  If she forced herself to come
+downstairs when she ought to be by herself she became really ill.
+Occasionally the fire was alight in the evening, too, and she would
+be off the moment tea was over, Isaac frequently joining her then,
+although he never remained with her in the morning.  She was almost
+sure to escape on the day following any excitement or undue worry
+about household affairs.  She knew Sir Walter Scott from end to end,
+and as few people knew him.  He had been to her, and to her husband
+too, what he can only be to people leading a dull life far from the
+world.  He had broken up its monotony and created a new universe!  He
+had introduced them into a royal society of noble friends.  He had
+added to the ordinary motives which prompted Cowfold action a
+thousand higher motives.  Then there was the charm of the magician,
+so sanative, so blessed, felt directly any volume of that glorious
+number was opened.  Kenilworth or Redgauntlet was taken down, and the
+reader was at once in another country and in another age, transported
+as if by some Arabian charm away from Cowfold cares.  If anywhere in
+another world the blessings which men have conferred here are taken
+into account in distributing reward, surely the choicest in the store
+of the Most High will be reserved for His servant Scott!  It may be
+said of others that they have made the world wise or rich, but of him
+it must be said that HE, MORE THAN ALL, HAS MADE THE WORLD HAPPIER--
+wiser too, wiser through its happiness.
+
+Of the influence of Byron nothing more need be said here, because so
+much has been said before.  It may seem strange that the deacon of a
+Dissenting chapel and his wife could read him, and could continue to
+wait upon the ministrations of the Reverend John Broad; but I am only
+stating a fact.  Mrs. Allen could repeat page after page of Childe
+Harold, and yet she went diligently to Tanner's Lane.  Part of what
+was read exhaled in the almost republican politics of the Allen
+household; but it had also its effect in another direction, and it
+was always felt by the Broads that the Allens were questionable
+members of the flock.  They were gathered into the fold on Sunday,
+and had the genuine J. B. on their wool, but there was a cross in
+them.  There was nothing which could be urged against them.  No word
+of heresy ever escaped them, no symptom of disbelief was ever seen
+and yet Mr. Broad often desired exceedingly that they were different,
+was never at ease with them, and in his heart of hearts bitterly
+hated them.  After all that can be said by way of explanation, there
+was much in this concealed animosity of Mr. Broad which was
+unaccountable.  It was concealed because he was far too worldly-wise
+to show it openly; but it was none the less intense.  Indeed, it was
+so intense as to be almost inconsistent with Mr. Broad's cast of
+character, and his biographer is at a loss to find the precise point
+where it naturally connects itself with the main stem from which
+branch off the rest of his virtues and vices.  However, there it was,
+and perhaps some shrewder psychologist may be able to explain how
+such a passion could be begotten in a nature otherwise so somnolent.
+
+For this literary leaven in the Allen's household, as we have said,
+Zachariah was answerable.  Mrs. Allen loved him as she loved her
+father, and he wrote to her long letters, through which travelled
+into Cowfold Square all the thought of the Revolution.  He never went
+to Cowfold himself, nor could he ever be persuaded to let little
+Pauline go.  She had been frequently invited, but he always declined
+the invitation courteously on the ground that he could not spare her.
+The fame of her beauty and abilities had, however, reached Cowfold,
+and so it came to pass that when Mr. Thomas Broad, junior, being duly
+instructed in the doctrine of the Comforter, entered the Dissenting
+College in London, he determined that at the first opportunity he
+would call and see her.  He had been privately warned both by his
+father and mother that he was on no account to visit this particular
+friend of the Allens, firstly, because Zachariah was reputed to be,
+"inclined towards infidelity," and secondly, because, summing up the
+whole argument, he was not "considered respectable."
+
+"Of course, my dear, you know his history," quoth Mrs. Broad, "and it
+would very much interfere with your usefulness if you were to be
+intimate with him."
+
+Little Pauline had by this time grown to be a woman, or very nearly
+one.  She had, as in nine times, perhaps, out of ten is the case,
+inherited her temperament from her mother.  She had also inherited
+something more, for she was like her in face.  She had the same
+luxuriantly dark hair--a wonder to behold when it was let down over
+her shoulders--the same grey eyes, the same singularly erect
+attitude, and lips which, although they were not tight and screwed
+up, were always set with decision.  But her distinguishing
+peculiarity was her inherited vivacity, which was perfectly natural,
+but frequently exposed her--just as it did her mother--to the charge
+of being theatrical.  The criticism was as unjust in her case as in
+that of her mother, if by being theatrical we mean being unreal.  The
+unreal person is the half-alive languid person.  Pauline felt what
+she said, and acted it in every gesture.  Her precious promptitude of
+expression made her invaluable as a companion to her father.  He was
+English all over and all through; hypochondriacal, with a strong
+tendency to self-involution and self-absorption.  She was only half
+English, or rather altogether French, and when he came home in the
+evening he often felt as if some heavy obstruction in his brain and
+about his heart were suddenly dissolved.  She and her mother were
+like Hercules in the house of Admetus.  Before Hercules has promised
+to rescue Alcestis we feel that the darkness has disappeared.
+Pauline was loved by her father with intense passion.  When she was a
+little child, and he was left alone with a bitter sense of wrong, a
+feeling that he had more than his proper share of life's misery, his
+heart was closed, and he cared for no friendship.  But the man's
+nature could not be thus thwarted, and gradually it poured itself out
+in full flood--denied exit elsewhere--at this one small point.  He
+rejoiced to find that he had not stiffened into death, and he often
+went up to her bedside as she lay asleep, and the tears came, and he
+thanked God, not only for her but for his tears.  He could not afford
+to bring her up like a lady, but he did his best to give her a good
+education.  He was very anxious that she should learn French, and as
+she was wonderfully quick at languages, she managed in a very short
+time to speak it fluently.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX--THE REVEREND THOMAS BROAD'S EXPOSITION OF ROMANS VIII. 7
+
+
+
+Such was the Coleman household when Mr. Thomas Broad called one fine
+Monday afternoon about three months after he had been at college.  He
+had preached his first sermon on the Sunday before, in a village
+about twelve miles from London in a north-easterly direction,
+somewhere in the flat regions of Essex.  Mr. Thomas was in unusually
+good humour, for he had not broken down, and thought he had crowned
+himself with glory.  The trial, to be sure, was not very severe.  The
+so-called chapel was the downstairs living-room of a cottage holding
+at a squeeze about five-and-twenty people.  Nevertheless, there was a
+desk at one corner, with two candles on either side, and Mr. Thomas
+was actually, for the first time, elevated above an audience.  It
+consisted of the wheelwright and his wife, both very old, half a
+dozen labourers, with their wives, and two or three children.  The
+old wheelwright, as he was in business, was called the "principal
+support of the cause."  The "cause," however, was not particularly
+prosperous, nor its supporters enthusiastic.  It was "supplied"
+always by a succession of first-year's students, who made their
+experiments on the corpus vile here.  Spiritual teaching, spiritual
+guidance, these poor peasants had none, and when the Monday came they
+went to their work in the marshes and elsewhere, and lived their
+blind lives under grey skies, with nothing left in them of the
+Sunday, save the recollection of a certain routine performed which
+might one day save them from some disaster with which flames and
+brimstone had something to do.  It was not, however, a reality to
+them.  Neither the future nor the past was real to them; no spiritual
+existence was real; nothing, in fact, save the most stimulant
+sensation.  Once upon a time, a man, looking towards the celestial
+city, saw "The reflection of the sun upon the city (for the city was
+of pure gold), so exceeding glorious that he could not as yet with
+open face behold it, save through an instrument made for that
+purpose;" but Mr. Thomas Broad and his hearers needed no smoked glass
+now to prevent injury to their eyes.  Mr. Thomas had put on a white
+neckerchief, had mounted the desk, and had spoken for three-quarters
+of an hour from the text, "The carnal mind is at enmity with God."
+He had received during the last three weeks his first lectures on the
+"Scheme of Salvation," and his discourse was a reproduction of his
+notes thereon.  The wheelwright and his wife, and the six labourers
+with their wives, listened as oxen might listen, wandered home along
+the lanes heavy-footed like oxen, with heads towards the ground, and
+went heavily to bed.  The elder student who had accompanied Mr.
+Thomas informed him that, on the whole, he had acquitted himself very
+well, but that it would be better, perhaps, in future to be a little
+simpler, and avoid what "may be called the metaphysics of
+Redemption."
+
+"No doubt," said he, "they are very attractive, and of enormous
+importance.  There is no objection to expound them before a
+cultivated congregation in London; but in the villages we cannot be
+too plain--that, at least, is my experience.  Simply tell them we are
+all sinners, and deserve damnation.  God sent His Son into the world.
+If we believe in Him we shall be saved; if not, we shall be lost.
+There is no mystery in that; everybody can understand it; and people
+are never weary of hearing the old old gospel."
+
+Mr. Thomas was well contented with himself, as we have said, when he
+knocked at Zachariah's door.  It was opened by Pauline.  He took off
+his hat and smiled.
+
+"My name is Broad.  I come from Cowfold, and know the Allens very
+well.  I am now living in London, and having heard of you so often, I
+thought I should like to call."
+
+"Pray come in," she said; "I am very glad to see you.  I wish my
+father were here."
+
+He was shown into the little front room, and after some inquiries
+about his relations Pauline asked him where was his abode in London.
+
+"At the Independent College.  I am studying for the ministry."
+
+Pauline was not quite sure what "the ministry" meant; but as Mr.
+Thomas had yesterday's white tie round his neck--he always "dirtied
+out" the Sunday's neckerchief on Monday, and wore a black one on the
+other week-days--she guessed his occupation.
+
+"Dear me! you must be tired with walking so far."
+
+"Oh no, not tired with walking; but the fact is I am a little
+Mondayish."
+
+"A little what?"
+
+Mr. Thomas giggled a little.  "Ah, you young ladies, of course, don't
+know what that means.  I had to conduct a service in the country
+yesterday, and am rather fatigued.  I am generally so on Mondays, and
+I always relax on that day."  This, it is to be remembered, was his
+first Monday.
+
+Pauline regretted very much that she had no wine in the house;
+neither had they any beer.  They were not total abstainers, but
+nothing of the kind was kept in their small store-closet.
+
+"Oh, thank you; never mind."  He took a bottle of smelling-salts from
+the mantelpiece and smelt it.  The conversation flagged a little.
+Pauline sat at the window, and Mr. Thomas at the table.  At last he
+observed.
+
+"Are you alone all day?"
+
+"Generally, except on Sunday.  Father does not get home till late."
+
+"Dear me!  And you are not dull nor afraid?"
+
+"Dull or afraid!  Why?"
+
+"Oh, well," he sniggered, "dull--why, young ladies, you know, usually
+like society.  At least," and he laughed a little greasy laugh at his
+wit, "we like theirs.  And then--afraid--well, if my sister were so
+attractive"--he looked to see if this pretty compliment was
+effective--"I should not like her to be without anybody in the
+house."
+
+Pauline became impatient.  She rose.  "When you come again," she
+said, "I hope my father will be here."
+
+Mr. Thomas rose too.  He had begun to feel awkward.  For want of
+something better to say, he asked whose was the portrait over the
+mantelpiece.
+
+"Major Cartwright."
+
+"Major Cartwright!  Dear me, is that Major Cartwright?"  He had never
+heard of him before, but he did not like to profess ignorance of a
+Major.
+
+"And this likeness of this young gentleman?" he inquired, looking at
+Pauline sideways, with an odious simper on his lips.  "Nobody I know,
+I suppose?"
+
+"My father when he was one-and-twenty."  She moved towards the door.
+Mr. Thomas closed his fat eyes till they became almost slits,
+simpered still more effectively, as he thought, trusted he might have
+the pleasure of calling again, and departed.
+
+Pauline returned, opened the window and door for ten minutes, and
+went upstairs.  When she saw her father she told him briefly that she
+had entertained a visitor, and expressed her utter loathing of him in
+terms so strong that he was obliged to check her.  He did not want a
+quarrel with any of Isaac's friends.
+
+Mr. Thomas, having returned to the college, did not delay to
+communicate by mysterious hints to his colleagues that he was on
+visiting terms with a most delightfully charming person, and sunned
+himself deliciously in their bantering congratulations.  About three
+weeks afterwards he thought he might safely repeat his visit; but he
+was in a difficulty.  He was not quite so stupid as not to see that,
+the next time he went, it ought to be when her father was present,
+and yet he preferred his absence.  At last he determined he would go
+about tea-time.  He was quite sure that Mr. Coleman would not have
+returned then; but he could assume that he had, and would propose to
+wait for him.  He therefore duly presented himself at half-past five.
+
+"Good-evening, Miss Coleman.  Is your father at home?"
+
+"No, not yet," replied Pauline, holding the door doubtingly.
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry;" and, to Pauline's surprise, he entered without
+any further ceremony.  She hardly knew what to do; but she followed
+him as he walked into the room, where she had just laid the tea-
+things and put the bread and butter on the table.
+
+"Oh, tea!" he cried.  "Dear me, it would be very rude of me to ask
+myself to tea, and yet, do you know, Miss Coleman, I can hardly help
+it."
+
+"I am afraid my father will not be here till eight."  He sat down.
+
+"That is very unfortunate.  You will tell him I came on purpose to
+see him."
+
+Pauline hesitated whether she should or should not inform Mr. Thomas
+that his presence was disagreeable, but her father's caution recurred
+to her, and she poured out a cup for her visitor.
+
+It was one of his peculiarities that tea, of which he took enormous
+quantities, made him garrulous, and he expatiated much upon his
+college.  By degrees, however, he became silent, and as he was
+sitting with his face to the window, he shifted his chair to the
+opposite side, under the pretence that the light dazzled his eyes.
+Pauline shifted too, apparently to make room for him, but really to
+get farther from him.
+
+"Do people generally say that you take after your mother?" he said.
+
+"I believe I am like my mother in many things."
+
+Another pause.  He became fidgety; the half smile, half grin which he
+almost perpetually wore passed altogether from his face, and he
+looked uncomfortable and dangerous.  Pauline felt him to be so, and
+resolved that, come what might, he should never set foot in the house
+again.
+
+"You have such black hair," he observed.
+
+She rose to take away the tea-things.
+
+"I am afraid," said she, "that I must go out; I have one or two
+commissions to execute."
+
+He remained seated, and observed that surely she would not go alone.
+
+"Why not?" and having collected the tea-things, she was on the point
+of leaving.  He then rose, and she bade him good-bye.  He held out
+his hand, and she took it in hers, but he did not let it go, and
+having pulled it upwards with much force, kissed it.  He still held
+it, and before the astonished Pauline knew what he was doing his arm
+was round her waist.  At that moment the little front gate swung
+back.  Nobody was there; but the Reverend Thomas was alarmed, and in
+an instant she had freed herself, and had placed the table between
+them.
+
+"What do you mean, you Gadarene pig, you scoundrel, by insulting a
+stranger in this way?" she cried.  "Away!  My father will know what
+to do with you."
+
+"Oh, if you please, Miss Coleman, pray say nothing about it, pray do
+not mention it to your father; I do not know what the consequences
+will be; I really meant nothing; I really did not"--which was
+entirely true.
+
+"You who propose to teach religion to people!  I ought to stop you;
+but no, I will not be dragged into the mud."
+
+A sudden thought struck her.  He was shaky, and was holding on by the
+table.  "I will be silent," she cried--what a relief it was to him to
+hear her say that! "but I will mark you," and before he could
+comprehend what she was doing she had seized a little pair of
+scissors which lay near her, had caught his wrist, and had scored a
+deep cross on the back of the hand.  The blood burst out and she
+threw him a handkerchief.
+
+"Take that and be gone!"
+
+He was so amazed and terrified, not only at the sight of the blood,
+but at her extraordinary behaviour, that he turned ghastly white.
+The pain, however, recalled him to his senses; he rolled the
+handkerchief over the wound, twisted his own round it too, for the
+red stain came through Pauline's cambric, and departed.  The account
+current in the college was, that he had torn himself against a nail
+in a fence.  The accident was a little inconvenient on the following
+Sunday, when he had to preach at Hogsbridge Corner; but as he
+reproduced the sermon on the carnal mind, which he knew pretty well
+by heart, he was not nervous.  He had made it much simpler, in
+accordance with the advice given on a former occasion.  He had struck
+out the metaphysics and had put in a new head--"Neither indeed CAN
+be."  "The apostle did not merely state a fact that the carnal mind
+was not subject to the law of God; he said, 'Neither indeed CAN be.'
+Mark, my brethren, the force of the neither can."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI--THE WISDOM OF THE SERPENT
+
+
+
+George Allen meanwhile, at Cowfold, languished in love with Priscilla
+Broad, who was now a comely girl of eighteen.  Mrs. Broad had, of
+course, discovered what was in the wind, and her pride suffered a
+severe shock.  She had destined Priscilla, as the daughter of a
+Flavel, for a London minister, and that she should marry a tradesman
+was intolerable.  Worse still, a tradesman in Cowfold!  What would
+become of their influence in the town, she continually argued with
+Mr. Broad, if they became connected with a member of their
+congregation?  She thought it would be a serious hindrance to their
+usefulness.  But Mr. Broad was not so sure, although he hated the
+Allens; and Priscilla, somehow or other, was not so sure, for,
+despite her mother's constant hints about their vulgarity, she not
+infrequently discovered that something was wanted from the shop, and
+bought it herself.
+
+One Monday afternoon, Mr. Broad having thrown the silk handkerchief
+off his face and bestirred himself at the sight of the radishes,
+water-cresses, tea, and hot buttered toast, thus addressed his wife:
+
+"My love, I am not altogether inclined to discountenance the
+attentions which George pays to Priscilla.  There are so many
+circumstances to be taken into account."
+
+"It is a great trouble to me, John, and I really think if anything of
+the kind were to happen, at least you would have to seek another
+cause.  Just consider the position in which I should stand towards
+Mrs. Allen.  Besides, I am sure it will interfere with your duties
+here if we are obliged to take notice of the Allens more than of
+other people in the town."
+
+"To seek for another cause, my love?  That is a very grave matter at
+my time of life.  You remember too, that there is an endowment here."
+
+"Quite so; and that is the more reason why we should not permit the
+attachment."
+
+"But, my love, as I observed, there are so many circumstances to be
+taken into account.  You know as well as I do in what aspect I view
+the Allens, and what my sentiments with regard to them are--
+personally that is to say, and not as minister of the gospel.
+Perhaps Providence, my dear, intends this opportunity as a means
+whereby the emotions of my poor sinful nature--emotions which may
+have been uncharitable--may be converted into brotherly love.  Then
+we must recollect that Isaac is a prominent member of the church and
+a deacon.  Thirdly, in all probability, if we do not permit Priscilla
+to marry George, offence will be taken and they may withdraw their
+subscription, which, I believe, comes altogether to twenty pounds per
+annum.  Fourthly, the Allens have been blessed with an unusual share
+of worldly prosperity, and George is about to become a partner.
+Fifthly and lastly"--Mr. Broad had acquired a habit of dividing his
+most ordinary conversation into heads--"it is by no means improbable
+that I may need a co-pastor before long, and we shall secure the
+Allens' powerful influence in favour of Thomas."
+
+Mrs. Broad felt the full force of these arguments.
+
+"I should think," she added, "that George, after marriage, cannot
+live at the shop."
+
+"No, that will not be possible; they must take a private house."
+
+So it was agreed, without any reference to the question whether
+Priscilla and George cared for one another, that no opposition should
+be offered.  The Allens themselves, father and mother, were by no
+means so eager for the honour of the match as Mrs. Broad supposed
+them to be, for Mrs. Isaac, particularly proud of her husband, and a
+little proud of their comfortable business and their comfortable
+property, was not dazzled by the Flavel ancestry.
+
+When George formally asked permission of Mr. Broad to sanction his
+addresses, a meeting between the parents became necessary, and Mrs.
+Broad called on Mrs. Allen.  She was asked into the dining-room at
+the back of the shop.  At that time, at any rate in Cowfold, the
+drawing-room, which was upstairs, was an inaccessible sanctuary, save
+on Sunday and on high tea-party days.  Mrs. Broad looked round at the
+solid mahogany furniture; cast her eyes on the port and sherry
+standing on the sideboard, in accordance with Cowfold custom;
+observed that not a single thing in the room was worn or shabby; that
+everything was dusted with absolute nicety, for the Allen's kept two
+servants; and became a little reconciled to her lot.
+
+Mrs. Allen presently appeared in her black silk dress, with her gold
+watch hanging in front, and saluted the minister's wife with the
+usual good-humoured, slightly democratic freedom which always annoyed
+Mrs. Broad.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Allen," began Mrs. Broad, "I have called to announce to
+you a surprising piece of intelligence, although I dare say you know
+it all.  Your son George has asked Mr. Broad to be allowed to
+consider himself as Priscilla's suitor.  We have discussed the matter
+together, and I have come to know what your views are.  I may say
+that we had destined--hoped--that--er--Priscilla would find her
+sphere as a minister's wife in the metropolis; but it is best,
+perhaps, to follow the leadings of Providence."
+
+"Well, Mrs. Broad, I must say I was a little bit disappointed myself-
+-to tell you the plain truth; but it is of no use to contradict young
+people in love with one another."
+
+Mrs. Broad was astonished.  Disappointed!  But she remembered her
+husband's admonitions.  So she contented herself with an insinuation.
+
+"What I meant, my dear Mrs. Allen, was that, as the Flavels have been
+a ministerial family for so long, it would have been gratifying to
+me, of course, if Priscilla had bestowed herself upon--upon somebody
+occupying the same position."
+
+"That is just what my mother used to say.  I was a Burton, you
+remember.  They were large tanners in Northamptonshire, and she did
+not like my going to a shop.  But you know, Mrs. Broad, you had
+better be in a shop and have plenty of everything, and not have to
+pinch and screw, than have a brass knocker on your door, and not be
+able to pay for the clothes you wear.  That's my belief, at any
+rate."
+
+The dart entered Mrs. Broad's soul.  She remembered some
+"procrastination"--to use her husband's favourite word--in settling a
+draper's bill, even when it was diminished by the pew rent, and she
+wondered if Mrs. Allen knew the facts.  Of course she did; all
+Cowfold knew every fact connected with everybody in the town.  She
+discerned it was best to retreat.
+
+"I wished to tell you, Mrs. Allen, that we do not intend to offer the
+least objection"--she thought that perhaps a little professional
+unction might reduce her antagonist--"and I am sure I pray that God
+will bless their union."
+
+"As I said before, Mrs. Broad, neither shall we object.  We shall let
+George do as he likes.  He is a real good boy, worth a princess, and
+if he chooses to have Miss Broad, we shan't hinder him.  She will
+always be welcome here, and it will be a consolation to you to know
+she will never want anything."  Mrs. Allen shook her silk dress out a
+little, and offered Mrs. Broad a glass of wine.  Her feelings were a
+little flustered, and she needed support, but she refused.
+
+"No thank you, Mrs. Allen.  I must be going."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII--THE ORACLE WARNS--AFTER THE EVENT
+
+
+
+It is no part of my business to tell the story of the love-making
+between George and Priscilla.  Such stories have been told too often.
+Every weakness in her was translated by George into some particularly
+attractive virtue.  He saw nothing, heard nothing, which was not to
+her advantage.  Once, indeed, when he was writing the letter that was
+for ever to decide his destiny, it crossed his mind that this was an
+epoch--a parting of the ways--and he hesitated as he folded it up.
+But no warning voice was heard; nothing smote him; he was doing what
+he believed to be the best; he was allowed to go on without a single
+remonstrant sign.  The messenger was despatched, and his fate was
+sealed.  His mother and father had held anxious debate.  They
+believed Priscilla to be silly, and the question was whether they
+should tell George so.  The more they reflected on the affair the
+less they liked it; but it was agreed that they could do nothing, and
+that to dissuade their son would only embitter him against them.
+
+"Perhaps," said Mrs. Allen, "when she has a family she will be
+better."
+
+Mrs. Allen had a belief that children cured a woman of many follies.
+
+Nevertheless the mother could not refrain, when she had to talk to
+George about his engagement, from "letting out" just a word.
+
+"I hope you will be happy, my dear boy.  The great thing is not to
+have a fool for a wife.  There has never, to my knowledge, been a
+woman amongst the Burtons or the Allens who was a fool.
+
+George felt nothing at the time, for he suspected nothing; but the
+words somehow remained with him, and reappeared later on in black
+intensity like invisible writing under heat.
+
+So they were married, and went to live in a cottage, small, but very
+respectable, in the Shott Road.  For the first six months both were
+in bliss.  Priscilla was constantly backwards and forwards to her
+mother, who took upon herself at once the whole direction of her
+affairs; but there was no rupture with the Allens, for, whatever her
+other faults might be, Priscilla was not given to making quarrels,
+and there was little or no bitterness or evil temper in her.  George
+came home after his work was over at the shop, and sometimes went out
+to supper with his wife, or read to her the newspaper, which came
+once a week.  Like his father, he was an ardent politician, and, from
+the very beginning of the struggle, an enthusiastic Free Trader.  The
+Free Trade creed was, indeed, the cause of serious embarrassment, for
+not only were the customers agricultural and Protectionist, but the
+deacons at Tanner's Lane, being nearly all either farmers or
+connected with the land, were also Protectionist, and Mr. Broad had a
+hard time of it.  For himself, he expressed no opinion; but once, at
+a deacons' meeting, when it looked as if some controversy would
+arise, he begged Brother Allen to remember that, though we might be
+wise as serpents, we were also commanded to be harmless as doves.
+There was a small charity connected with the chapel, which was
+distributed, not in money, but in bread, and Brother Allen, not being
+able to contain himself, had let fall a word or two about the price
+of bread which would have raised a storm if Mr. Broad had not poured
+on the troubled waters that oil of which he was a perfect reservoir.
+
+George did his best to instruct his wife in the merits of the
+controversy, and when he found anything in his newspaper read it
+aloud to her.
+
+"You see, Priscilla," he said one evening, "it stands to reason that
+if foreign corn pays a duty, the price of every quarter grown here is
+raised, and this increased price goes into the farmer's or landlord's
+pocket:  Why should I, or why should my men, pay twopence more for
+every loaf to buy Miss Wootton a piano?"
+
+"Really, George, do you mean to say that they are going to buy Miss
+Wootton a piano?"
+
+"My dear, I said that when they buy a loaf of bread twopence out of
+it goes to buy Miss Wootton's piano!" repeated George, laying an
+emphasis on every word.  "I did not mean, of course, that they put
+their twopences in her pocket.  The point is, that the duty enables
+Wootton to get more for his corn."
+
+"Well," said Priscilla triumphantly, "I can tell you she is NOT going
+to have a piano.  She's going to have a little organ instead, because
+she can play tunes better on an organ, and it's more suitable for
+her; so there's an end of that."
+
+"It doesn't matter whether it is an organ or piano," said George,
+"the principle is the same."
+
+"Well, but you said a piano; I don't think the principle is the same.
+If I were she I would sooner have the piano."
+
+A shade of perplexed trouble crossed George's face, and some creases
+appeared in his forehead; but he smoothed them away and laid down his
+paper.
+
+"Priscilla, put away your work for a moment and just listen."
+
+Priscilla was making something in the shape of netting by means of
+pins and a long loop which was fastened under her foot.
+
+"I can listen, George; there is no occasion to put it away."
+
+"Well then," he answered, placing both his elbows on the table, and
+resting his face upon them, "all corn which comes into this country
+pays a duty--that you understand.  Consequently it cannot be sold
+here for less than sixty shillings a quarter.  Of course, if that is
+the case, English wheat is kept up to a higher price than it would
+fetch it there was no duty.  Therefore bread is, as I calculate,
+about twopence a loaf dearer than it ought to be.  And why should it
+be?  That's what I want to know."
+
+"I believe," said Priscilla, "we might save a good bit by baking at
+home."
+
+"Yes, yes; but never mind that now.  You know that foreign corn pays
+a duty.  You do know that?"
+
+"Yes," said Priscilla, because there was nothing else to be said.
+
+"Well, then, you must see that, if that be so, farmers can obtain a
+higher price for English corn."
+
+Poor Priscilla really did her best to comprehend.  She stopped her
+knitting for a moment, put her knitting-pin to her lips, and answered
+very slowly and solemnly "Ye-es."
+
+"Ah; but I know when you say 'Ye-es' like that you do not
+understand."
+
+"I do understand," she retorted, with a little asperity.
+
+"Well then, repeat it, and let us see."
+
+"No, I shall not."
+
+"Dear Priscilla, I am not vexed:  but I only wanted to make it quite
+plain to you.  The duty on foreign corn is a tax in favour of the
+farmer, or perhaps the landlord, just as distinctly as if the tax-
+collector carried the coin from our till and gave it them."
+
+"Of course it is quite plain," she responded, making a bold stroke
+for her life.  "Of course it is quite plain we are taxed"--George's
+face grew bright, for he thought the truth had dawned upon her--
+"because the farmers have to pay the duty on foreign corn."
+
+He took up his newspaper, held it open so as to cover his face, was
+silent for a few minutes, and then, pulling out his watch, declared
+it was time to go to bed.  She gathered up her netting, looked at him
+doubtfully as she passed, and went upstairs.
+
+The roof of George's house had a kind of depression or well in the
+middle of it, whence ran a rainwater pipe, which passed down inside,
+and so, under the floor, to the soft-water cistern.  A bad piece of
+construction, thought he, and he wished, if he could have done so, to
+improve it; but there was no way of altering it without pulling the
+whole place to pieces.  One day, a very short time after the talk
+about Free Trade, a fearful storm of rain broke over Cowfold, and he
+was startled by Ellen, his servant, running into the shop and telling
+him that the staircase was flooded, and missis wanted him at once.
+He put on his coat and was off in a moment.  When he got there
+Priscilla met him at the door crying, and in a great fright.  The
+well up aloft was full of water, and it was pouring in torrents
+through the little window.  It had gone through the floor of the
+bedroom and into the dining-room, pulling down with it about half the
+ceiling, which lay in a horrid mess upon the dining table and the
+carpet, George saw in an instant what was the matter.  He ran up the
+steps to the well, pulled out a quantity of straw and dirt which
+blocked up the entrance to the pipe; the water disappeared in two
+minutes, and all further danger was arrested.
+
+"Why on earth," he cried in half a passion, "did not you think to
+clear away the rubbish, instead of wasting your time in sending for
+me?  It ought to have entered into anybody's head to do such a simple
+thing as that."
+
+"How was I to know?" replied Mrs. George.  "I am not an ironmonger.
+What have I to do with pipes?  You shouldn't have had such a thing."
+
+Ellen stood looking at the wreck.
+
+"We don't want you;" said George savagely; "go into the kitchen," and
+he shut the dining-room door.  There the husband and wife stood face
+to face with one another, with the drip, drip, drip still proceeding,
+the ruined plaster, and the spoilt furniture.
+
+"I don't care," he broke out, "one brass farthing for it all; but
+what I do care for is that you should not have had the sense to
+unstop that pipe."
+
+She said nothing, but cried bitterly.  At last she sat down and
+sobbed out:  "O George, George, you are in a rage with me; you are
+tired of me; you are disappointed with me.  Oh! what shall I do, what
+SHALL I do?"  Poor child! her pretty curls fell over her face as she
+covered it with her long white hands.  George was touched with pity
+in an instant, and his arms were round her neck.  He kissed her
+fervently, and besought her not to think anything of what he had
+said.  He took out his handkerchief, wiped her eyes tenderly, lifted
+one of her arms and put it round his neck as he pulled a chair
+towards him and sat down beside her.  Nothing she loved like
+caresses!  She knew what THEIR import was, though she could not
+follow his economical logic, and she clung to him, and buried her
+face on his shoulder.  At that moment, as he drew her heavy brown
+tresses over him, smothered his eyes and mouth in them, and then
+looked down through them on the white, sweet beauty they shadowed, he
+forgot or overlooked everything, and was once more completely happy.
+
+Suddenly she released herself.  "What shall we do to-night, George,
+the bedroom will be so damp?"
+
+He recovered himself, and admitted that they could not sleep there.
+There was the spare bedroom; but the wet had come in there too.
+
+"I will sleep at father's, and you sleep at home too.  We will have
+fires alight, and we shall be dry enough to-morrow.  You be off now,
+my dear; I will see about it all."
+
+So George had the fires alight, got in a man to help him, and they
+swept and scoured and aired till it was dark.  In a day or two the
+plasterer could mend the ceiling.
+
+Priscilla had left, and, excepting the servant, who was upstairs,
+George was alone.  He looked round, walked about--what was it?  Was
+he tired?  It could not be that; he was never tired.  He left as soon
+as he could and went back to the shop.  After telling the tale of the
+calamity which had befallen him he announced--it was now supper-time-
+-that he was going to stay all night.  Mother, father, and sister
+were delighted to have him--"It looked like old times again;" but
+George was not in much of a mood for talking, and at ten o'clock went
+upstairs; his early departure being, of course, set down to the worry
+he had gone through.  He turned into bed.  Generally speaking he
+thought no more of sleep than he did of breathing; it came as
+naturally as the air into his lungs; but what was this new
+experience?  Half an hour, an hour, after he had laid down he was
+still awake, and worse than awake; for his thoughts were of a
+different cast from his waking thoughts; fearful forebodings; a
+horror of great darkness.  He rose and bathed his head in cold water,
+and lay down again; but it was of no use, and he walked about his
+room.  What an epoch is the first sleepless night--the night when the
+first wrench has been given us by the Destinies to loosen us from the
+love of life; when we have first said to ourselves that there are
+worse things than death!
+
+George's father always slept well, but the mother stirred at the
+slightest sound.  She heard her boy on the other side of the wall
+pacing to and fro, and she slipped out of bed, put on her dressing-
+gown, and went to listen.  Presently she knocked gently.
+
+"George, my dear, aren't you well?"
+
+"Yes, mother; nothing the matter."
+
+"Let me in."
+
+He let her in, and sat down.  The moon shone brightly, and there was
+no need for any other light.
+
+The mother came and sat beside her child.
+
+"George, my dear, there is something on you mind?  What is it?--tell
+me."
+
+"Nothing, mother; nothing indeed."
+
+She answered by taking his cold hand in both her own and putting it
+on her lap.  Presently he disengaged himself and went to the window.
+She sat still for a moment, and followed him.  She looked up in his
+face; the moonlight was full upon it; there was no moisture in his
+eyes, but his lips quivered.  She led him away, and got him to sit
+down again, taking his hand as before, but speaking no word.
+Suddenly, without warning, his head was on his mother's bosom, and he
+was weeping as if his heart would break.  Another first experience to
+him and to her; the first time he had ever wept since he was a child
+and cried over a fall or because it was dark.  She supported that
+heavy head with the arm which had carried him before he could walk
+alone; she kissed him, and her tears flowed with his; but still she
+was silent.  There was no reason why she should make further inquiry;
+she knew it all.  By themselves there they remained till he became a
+little calmer, and then he begged her to leave him.  She wished to
+stay, but he would not permit it, and she withdrew.  When she reached
+her bedroom her husband was still asleep, and although she feared to
+wake him, she could no longer contain herself, and falling on her
+knees with her face in the bedclothes, so that she might not be
+heard, she cried to her Maker to have mercy on her child.  She was
+not a woman much given to religious exercises, but she prayed that
+night such a prayer as had not been prayed in Tanner's Lane since its
+foundation was laid.  For this cause shall a man leave father and
+mother and cleave to his wife?  Ah, yes! he does leave them; but in
+his heart does he never go back?  And if he never does, does his
+mother ever leave him?
+
+In the morning Mrs. Allen was a little pale, and was asked by her
+husband if she was unwell, but she held her peace.  George, too,
+rose, went about his work, and in the afternoon walked up to the
+cottage to meet his wife there.  She was bright and smiling, and had
+a thousand things to tell him about what her mamma said, and how
+mamma hoped that the nasty pipe would be altered and never ought to
+have been there; and how she was coming after tea to talk to him, and
+how she herself, Priscilla, had got a plan.
+
+"What is it?" said George.
+
+"Why, I would put a grating, or something, over the pipe, so that it
+shouldn't get stopped up."
+
+"But if the grating got stopped up that would be just as bad."
+
+"Well then, I wouldn't have a well there at all.  Why don't you cover
+it over?"
+
+'"But what are you to do with the window?  You cannot block out the
+light."
+
+So Priscilla's "plans," as she called them, were nothing.  And though
+George had a plan which he thought might answer, he did not consult
+her about it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII--FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
+
+
+
+Six months afterwards Priscilla was about to give birth to her first-
+born.  At Mrs. Allen's earnest request old nurse Barton had been
+engaged, who nursed Mrs. Allen when George came into the world, and
+loved him like her own child.  As a counterpoise, Mrs. Broad, who had
+desired a nurse from a distance, whom she knew, installed herself
+with Priscilla.  Nurse Barton had a great dislike to Mrs. Broad,
+although she attended Mr. Broad's ministrations at Tanner's Lane.
+She was not a member of the church, and never could be got to propose
+herself for membership.  There was, in fact, a slight flavour of
+Paganism about her.  She was considered to belong to the "world," and
+it was only her age and undoubted skill which saved her practice
+amongst the Tanner's Lane ladies.  There was a rival in the town; but
+she was a younger woman, and never went out to any of the respectable
+houses, save when Mrs. Barton was not available.
+
+The child was safely born, and as soon as nurse Barton could be
+spared for an hour or two she went to Mrs. Allen, whom she found
+alone.  The good woman then gave Mrs. Allen her opinions, which, by
+the way, she always gave with prefect frankness.
+
+"Thank the Lord-i-mercy this 'ere job, Mrs. Allen, is near at an end.
+If it 'adn't been my dear boy George's wife, never would I have set
+foot in that 'ouse."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Why not?  Now, Mrs. Allen, you know as well as I do.  To see that
+there Mrs. Broad!  She might 'ave ordered me about; that wouldn't a
+been nothin'; but to see 'er a orderin' 'IM, and a ridin' on 'im like
+a wooden rockin'-'orse, and with no more feelin'!  A nasty, prancin',
+'igh-'eaded creatur'.  Thinks I to myself, often and often, if things
+was different I'd let yer know, that I would; but I 'eld my tong.  It
+'ud a been wuss for us all, p'r'aps, if I 'adn't."
+
+"I should think so," said Mrs. Allen; "remember she is the minister's
+wife."
+
+"Minister's wife!" repeated Mrs. Barton, and with much scorn.  "And
+then them children of hern.  Lord be praised I never brought such
+things as them into the world.  That was her fine nuss as she must
+get down from London; and pretty creaturs they are!"
+
+"Hush, hush; George has one of them, and she is mine."
+
+"I can't 'elp it, ma'am, I must speak out.  I say as he ought to 'ave
+married somebody better nor 'er; though I don't mind a tellin' of yer
+she's the best of the lot.  Why did the Lord in heaven, as sent Jesus
+Christ to die for our souls, let my George 'ave such a woman as that?
+What poor silly creaturs we all are!" and the old woman, bending her
+head down, shook it mournfully and rubbed her knees with her hand.
+She was thinking of him as he lay in her lap years and years ago, and
+pondering, in her disconnected, incoherent way, over the mysteries
+which are mysteries to us as much as to her.
+
+Mrs. Broad, who was in constant attendance upon Priscilla, at the
+very earliest moment pronounced the baby a Flavel, and made haste to
+tell father and mother so.  There was no mistaking a refinement, so
+to say, in the features and an expression in the eye.  George, of
+course, was nearly banished for a time, and was much with his father
+and mother.  At length, however, the hour arrived when the nurse took
+her departure, and, Mrs. Broad having also somewhat retired, he began
+to see a little more of his wife; but it was very little.  She was
+altogether shut up in maternal cares--closed round, apparently, from
+the whole world.  He was not altogether displeased, but he did at
+times think that she might give him a moment now and then, especially
+as he was greatly interested in the coming county election.  It was
+rather too early in the day for a Free Trader to stand as a
+candidate, but two Whigs, of whom they had great hopes, had been put
+up, and both George and his father were most energetic in canvassing
+and on committees.
+
+Mr. Broad had decided not to vote.  He did not deny that his
+sympathies were not with the Tories, but as a minister of religion it
+would be better for him to remain neutral.  This annoyed the Allens
+and damaged their cause.  At a meeting held by the Tories one of the
+speakers called upon the audience to observe that all the respectable
+people, with very few exceptions, were on their side.  "Why," cried
+he, "I'll bet you, my friends, all Lombard Street to a china orange
+that they don't get even the Dissenting parson to vote for the
+Radicals.  Of course he won't, and why?  Just because he's a cut
+above his congregation, and knows a little more than they do, and
+belongs to the intelligent classes."
+
+George bethought himself that perhaps he might do something through
+Priscilla to influence her mother, and he determined to speak to her
+about it.  He came home one evening after attending a committee, and
+found supper ready.  Priscilla was downstairs, sitting with the door
+open.
+
+"Hadn't we better shut the door?" said George; "it is rather cold."
+
+"No, no, George; I shouldn't hear the baby."
+
+"But Ellen is upstairs."
+
+"Yes; but then she might go to sleep."
+
+"My dear," began George, "I wish your father could be got to vote
+straight.  You see that by not doing so he goes against all the
+principles of the Independents.  Ever since they have been in
+existence they have always stood up for freedom, and we are having
+the large yellow flag worked with the words, Civil and Religious
+Liberty.  It will be a bad thing for us if he holds aloof.  I cannot
+understand," he continued, getting eloquent, "how a Dissenting
+minister can make up his mind not to vote against a party which has
+been answerable for all the oppression and all the wrongs in English
+history, and for all our useless wars, and actually persecuted his
+predecessors in this very meeting-house in which he now preaches.
+Besides, to say nothing about the past, just look at what we have
+before us now.  The Tories are the most bitter opponents of Free
+Trade.  I can't tell you how I feel about it, and I do think that if
+you were to speak to your mother she would perhaps induce him to
+change his mind."
+
+It was a long time since he had said so much all at once to his wife.
+
+"George, George, I am sure he's awake!" and she was off out of the
+room in an instant.  Presently she returned.
+
+"Mamma came here this afternoon and brought his hood--a new one--such
+a lovely hood!--and she says he looks more than ever like a Flavel in
+it."
+
+"I don't believe you listened to a word of what I was saying."
+
+"Oh yes, I did; you always think I don't listen; but I can listen to
+you and watch for him too."
+
+"What did I say?"
+
+"Never mind, I know."
+
+"I cannot understand," he said sullenly, and diverted for a moment
+from his subject, "why mamma should be always telling YOU he is a
+Flavel."
+
+"Well, really, George, why shouldn't she?  Tryphosa said the other
+day that if you were to take away grandpapa Flavel's wig and bands
+from the picture in the Evangelical Magazine he would be just like
+him."
+
+"It seems to me," replied George, "that if there's any nonsense going
+about the town, it always comes to you.  People don't talk such
+rubbish to me."
+
+What the effect of this speech might have been cannot be told, for at
+this moment the baby did really cry, and Priscilla departed hastily
+for the night.  She never spoke to her mother about the election,
+for, as George suspected, she had not paid the slightest attention to
+him; and as to exchanging with her mother a single word upon such a
+subject as politics, or upon any other subject which was in any way
+impersonal,--she never did such a thing in her life.
+
+It was the uniform practice of the Reverend John Broad to walk down
+the main Street of Cowfold on Monday morning, and to interchange a
+few words with any of his congregation whom he might happen to meet.
+This pastoral perambulation not only added importance to him, and
+made him a figure in Cowfold, but, coming always on Monday, served to
+give people some notion of a preoccupation during the other days of
+the week which was forbidden, for mental reasons, on the day after
+Sunday.  On this particular Monday Mr. Broad was passing Mr. Allen's
+shop, and seeing father and son there, went in.  Mr. Allen himself
+was at a desk which stood near the window, and George was at the
+counter, in a black apron, weighing nails.
+
+After an unimportant remark or two about the weather, Mr. Allen began
+in a cheery tone, so as to prevent offence:
+
+"Mr. Broad, we are sorry we cannot persuade you to vote for the good
+cause."
+
+Mr. Broad's large mouth lengthened itself, and his little eyes had an
+unpleasant light in them.
+
+"Brother Allen, I have made this matter the subject of much
+meditation, and I may even say of prayer, and I have come to the
+conclusion it will be better for me to occupy a neutral position."
+
+"Why, Mr. Broad?  You cannot doubt on which side the right lies."
+
+"No; but then there are so many things to be considered, so many
+responsibilities, and my first care, you see, must be the ministerial
+office and the church which Providence has placed in my charge."
+
+"But, Mr. Broad, there are only two or three of them who are Tory."
+
+"Only old Bushel and another farmer or two," interrupted George.
+
+Mr. Broad looked severely at George, but did not condescend to answer
+him.
+
+"Those two or three, Brother Allen, require consideration as much as
+ourselves.  Brother Bushel is, I may say, a pillar of the cause, a
+most faithful follower of the Lord; and what are political questions
+compared with that?  How could I justify myself if my liberty were to
+become a stumbling-block to my brother.  The house of God without
+Brother Bushel to give out the hymns on Sunday would, I am sure, not
+be the same house of God to any of us."
+
+"But, Mr. Broad, do you think he will be so silly as to be offended
+because you exercise the same right which he claims for himself?"
+
+"Ah, Brother Allen--offended!  You remember, no doubt, the text,
+'Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh
+while the world standeth.'"
+
+It is a very good thing to have at one's elbow a Bible of rules for
+our guidance; but unfortunately we relieve ourselves very often of
+the most necessary inquiry whether the rule applies to the particular
+case in hand.  Mr. Allen had the greatest possible respect for St.
+Paul, but he felt sure the apostle was where he had no business to be
+just at that particular moment.  George also saw the irrelevance of
+the quotation, and discerned exactly where it did not fit.
+
+"Mr. Broad, I am sure I don't pretend to know what St. Paul thought
+as well as you do--of course not--but do you think that voting is
+like eating meat?  Is it not a duty to express our convictions on
+such questions as those now before the country?  It didn't much
+matter whether a man ate meat which had been offered to an idol or
+not, but it does matter how we are governed."
+
+Mr. Broad turned round on George, and smiled with a smile which was
+certainly not a sign of affection, but otherwise did not notice him.
+
+"Well, Mr. Broad," continued Mr. Allen, "all I can say is, I regret
+it; and I am sure you will excuse me if I also say that we too
+deserve some consideration.  You forget that your refusal to declare
+yourself may be stumbling-block to US."
+
+"I hope not, I hope not.  George, how is Priscilla, and how is her
+child?  Are they both quite well?" and with a pontifical benediction
+the minister moved away.  When he got home he consulted the oracle;
+not on his knees, but sitting in his arm-chair; that is to say, Mrs.
+Broad at the Monday afternoon tea, and she relieved his anxiety.
+There was no fear of any secession on the part of the Allens,
+connected as they were with them through Priscilla.  On the other
+hand, Brother Bushel, although he gave out the hymns, had already had
+a quarrel with the singing pew because they would not more frequently
+perform a tune with a solo for the double bass, which he always
+accompanied with his own bass voice, and Mr. Broad had found it
+difficult to restore peace; the flute and clarionet justly urging
+that they never had solos, and why the double bass, who only played
+from ear, and not half as many notes as they played, should be
+allowed to show off they didn't know.  Mr. Bushel, too, contributed
+ten pounds a year to the cause, and Piddingfold Green Chapel was but
+a mile farther off from him than Cowfold.  There were allies of the
+Allens in Tanner's Lane, no doubt; but none of them would be likely
+to desert so long as the Allens themselves remained.  Therefore
+Providence seemed to point out to Mr. and Mrs. Broad that their
+course was clear.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV--"I CAME NOT TO SEND PEACE, BUT A SWORD"
+
+
+
+Mr. Allen, having business in London, determined to go on Saturday,
+and spend the next day with Zachariah.  Although he always called on
+his old friend whenever he could do so, he was not often away from
+home on a Sunday.  He also resolved to take George with him.
+Accordingly on Saturday morning they were up early and caught a coach
+on the North Road.  The coaches by this time had fallen off
+considerably, for the Birmingham railway was open, and there was even
+some talk of a branch through Cowfold; but there were still perhaps a
+dozen which ran to places a good way east of the line.  Father and
+son dismounted at the "George and Blue Boar," where they were to
+sleep.  Sunday was to be spent with the Colemans, whom George had
+seen before but very seldom; never, indeed, since he was a boy.
+
+Zachariah still went to Pike Street Chapel, but only in the morning
+to hear Mr. Bradshaw, who was now an old man, and could not preach
+twice.  On that particular Sunday on which Zachariah, Pauline, Mr.
+Allen, and George heard him he took for his text the thirteenth verse
+of the twelfth chapter of Deuteronomy:  "Take heed to thyself that
+thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place thou seest."  He
+put down his spectacles after he had read these words, for he never
+used a note, and said:  "If your religion doesn't help you, it is no
+religion for you; you had better be without it.  I don't mean if it
+doesn't help you to a knowledge of a future life or of the way to
+heaven.  Everybody will say his religion does that.  What I do mean
+is, that the sign of a true religion--true for YOU, is this--Does it
+assist you to bear your own private difficulties?--does it really?--
+not the difficulties of the schools and theology, but those of the
+parlour and countinghouse; ay, difficulties most difficult, those
+with persons nearest to you? . . .  Everybody ought to have his OWN
+religion.  In one sense we are all disciples of Christ, but
+nevertheless each man has troubles peculiar to himself, and it is
+absurd to expect that any book system will be sufficient for each one
+of us at all points.  You must make your own religion, and it is only
+what you make yourself which will be of any use to you.  Don't be
+disturbed if you find it is not of much use to other persons.  Stick
+to it yourself if it is really your own, a bit of yourself.  There
+are, however, in the Book of God universal truths, and the wonderful
+thing about them is, that they are at the same time more particularly
+adapted to you and me and all our innermost wants than anything we
+can discover for ourselves.  That is the miracle of inspiration.  For
+thousands and thousands of years some of the sayings here have
+comforted those who have well nigh despaired in the desert of the
+world.  The wisdom of millions of apostles, of heroes, of martyrs, of
+poor field labourers, of solitary widows, of orphans of the
+destitute, of men driven to their last extremity has been the wisdom
+of this volume--not their own, and yet most truly theirs. . . .  Here
+is a word for us this morning:  'Take heed to thyself that thou offer
+not thy burnt offerings in every place thou seest.'  Ah, what a word
+it is!  You and I are not idolaters, and there is no danger of our
+being so.  For you and me this is not a warning against idolatry.
+What is it for us then?  Reserve yourself; discriminate in your
+worship.  Reserve yourself, I say; but what is the implication?  What
+says the next verse?  'In the place which the Lord shall choose;'
+that is to say, keep your worship for the Highest.  Do not squander
+yourself, but, on the other hand, before the shrine of the Lord offer
+all your love and adoration.  What a practical application this has!
+. . I desire to come a little closer to you.  What are the
+consequences of not obeying this Divine law?  You will not be struck
+dead nor excommunicated, you will be simply DISAPPOINTED.  Your burnt
+offering will receive no answer; you will not be blessed through it;
+you will come to see that you have been pouring forth your treasure,
+and something worse, your heart's blood--not the blood of cattle--
+before that which is no God--a nothing, in fact.  'Vanity of
+vanities,' you will cry, 'all is vanity.'  My young friends, young
+men and young women, you are particularly prone to go wrong in this
+matter.  You not only lay your possessions but yourselves on altars
+by the roadside."
+
+It was the first time George had ever heard anything from any public
+speaker which came home to him, and he wondered if Mr. Bradshaw knew
+his history.  He interpreted the discourse after his own way, and
+Priscilla was ever before him.
+
+They came back to the little house, and sat down to dinner in the
+little front room.  There were portraits on the walls--nothing else
+but portraits--and the collection at first sight was inconsistent.
+Major Cartwright was still there; there were also Byron, Bunyan,
+Scott, Paine, Burns, Mr. Bradshaw, and Rousseau.  It was closely
+expressive of its owners.  Zachariah and Pauline were private
+persons; they were, happily for them, committed to nothing, and were
+not subsidised by their reputations to defend a system.  They were
+consequently free to think at large, and if they admired both Bunyan
+and Rousseau, they were at liberty to do so.  Zachariah, in a
+measure, and a very large measure, had remained faithful to his
+earliest beliefs--who is there that does not?--and although they had
+been modified, they were still there; and he listened to Mr. Bradshaw
+with the faith of thirty years ago.  He also believed in a good many
+things he had learned without him, and perhaps the old and the new
+were not so discordant as at first sight they might have seemed to
+be.  He was not, in fact, despite all his love of logic, the "yes OR
+no" from which most people cannot escape, but a "yes AND no"; not
+immorally and through lack of resolution, but by reason of an
+original receptivity and the circumstances of his training.  If he
+had been merely a student the case would have been different but he
+was not a student.  He was a journeyman printer; and hard work has a
+tendency to demolish the distinctions of dialectics.  He had also
+been to school outside his shop, and had learned many lessons, often
+confusing and apparently contradictory.  Blanketeer marches; his
+first wife; the workhouse imprisonment; his second wife; the little
+Pauline had each come to him with its own special message, and the
+net result was a character, but a character disappointing to persons
+who prefer men and women of linear magnitude to those of three
+dimensions.
+
+After dinner the conversation turned upon politics and Mr. Allen
+described his interview with Mr. Broad, regretting that the movement
+in the district round Cowfold would receive no countenance from the
+minister of the very sect which ought to be its chief support.
+
+"A sad falling off," said Zachariah, "from the days, even in my time,
+when the Dissenters were the insurrectionary class.  Mr. Bradshaw,
+last Sunday, after his sermon, shut his Bible, and told the people
+that he did not now interfere much in political matters; but he felt
+he should not be doing his duty if he did not tell those whom he
+taught which way they ought to vote, and that what he had preached to
+them for so many years would be poor stuff if it did not compel them
+into a protest against taxing the poor for the sake of the rich."
+
+"Yes," replied Mr. Allen; "but then Broad never has taught what
+Bradshaw teaches; he never seems to me to see anything clearly; at
+least he never makes me see anything clearly; the whole world is in a
+fog to him."
+
+"From what I have heard of Mr. Broad," said Pauline, "I should think
+the explanation of him is very simple; he is a hypocrite--an ordinary
+hypocrite.  What is the use of going out of the way to seek for
+explanations of such commonplace persons?"
+
+"Pauline, Pauline," cried Zachariah, "you surely forget, my child, in
+whose company you are!"
+
+"Oh, as for that," said George, "Miss Coleman needn't mind me.  I
+haven't married Mr. Broad, and my father is quite right.  For that
+matter, I believe Miss Coleman is right too."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Allen, "it is rather strong to say a man is an
+ordinary hypocrite, and it is not easy to prove it."
+
+"Not easy to prove it," said Pauline, shifting a little her chair and
+looking straight at Mr. Allen, with great earnestness; "hypocrisy is
+the one thing easiest to prove.  I can tell whether a man is a
+hypocrite before I know anything else about him.  I may not for a
+long time be able to say what else he may be, but before he speaks,
+almost, I can detect whether he is sincere."
+
+"You women," said Zachariah, with a smile, "or you girls rather, are
+so positive.  Just as though the world were divided like the goats
+and the sheep in the gospel.  That is a passage that I never could
+quite understand.  I never, hardly, see a pure breed either of goat
+or sheep.  I never see anybody who deserves go straight to heaven or
+who deserves to go straight to hell.  When the judgment day comes it
+will be a difficult task.  Why, Pauline, my dear, I am a humbug
+myself."
+
+"Ah well, I have heard all that before; but, nevertheless, what I say
+is true.  Some men, using speech as God meant men to use it, are
+liars, and some are not.  Of course not entirely so, nor at all
+times.  We cannot speak mere truth; we are not made to speak it.  For
+all that you are not a liar."
+
+"Anyhow, I shall go on," said Mr. Allen.  "We shall have a desperate
+fight, and shall most likely lose; but no Tory shall sit for our
+county if I can help it."
+
+"Of course you will go on," said Zachariah.  "So shall I go on.  We
+are to have a meeting in Clerkenwell to-morrow night, although, to
+tell you the truth, I don't feel exactly the interest in the struggle
+which I did in those of five-and-twenty years ago, when we had to
+whisper our treasons to one another in locked rooms and put sentries
+at the doors.  You know nothing about those times, George."
+
+"I wish I had," said George, with an unusual passion, which surprised
+his father and caused Pauline to lift her eyes from the table and
+look at him.  "I only wish I had.  I can't speak as father can, and I
+often say to myself I should like to take myself off to some foreign
+country where men get shot for what they call conspiracy.  If I knew
+such a country I half believe I would go to-morrow."
+
+"Which means," said Pauline, "that there would be an end of you and
+your services.  If you care anything for a cause, you can do
+something better than get shot for it; and if you want martyrdom,
+there is a nobler martyrdom than death.  The Christians who were
+trundled in barrels with spikes in them deserve higher honour than
+those who died in a moment, before they could recant.  The highest
+form of martyrdom, though, is not even living for the sake of a
+cause, but living without one, merely because it is your duty to
+live.  If you are called upon to testify to a great truth, it is easy
+to sing in flames.  Yes, yes, Mr. George, the saints whom I would
+canonise are not martyrs for a cause, but those who have none."
+
+George thought that what Pauline said--just as he had thought of Mr.
+Bradshaw's sermon--seemed to be said for him; and yet what did she
+know about him?  Nothing.  He was silent.  All were silent, for it is
+difficult to follow anybody who pitches the conversation at so high a
+level; and Zachariah, who alone could have maintained it, was
+dreaming over his lost Pauline and gazing on the sacred pictures
+which were hung in the chamber of his heart.  Just at that moment he
+was looking at the one of his wife as a girl; the room in which he
+was sitting had gone; he was in the court near Fleet Street; she had
+cleared the space for the dance; she had begun, and he was watching
+her with all the passion of his youth.  The conversation gradually
+turned to something more indifferent, and the company broke up.
+
+On the Monday George and his father went home.  It is very
+depressing, after being with people who have been at their best, and
+with whom we have been at our best, to descend upon ordinary
+existence.  George felt it particularly as he stood in the shop on
+Tuesday morning and reflected that for the whole of that day--for his
+father was out--he should probably not say nor hear a word for which
+he cared a single straw.  But there was to be an election meeting
+that evening, and Mr. Allen was to speak, and George, of course, must
+be there.  The evening came, and the room at the Mechanics'
+Institute, which had just been established in Cowfold, was crowded.
+Admission was not by ticket, so that, though the Whigs had convened
+it, there was a strong muster of the enemy.  Mr. Allen moved the
+first resolution in a stirring speech, which was constitutionally
+interrupted with appeals to him to go home and questions about a grey
+mare--"How about old Pinfold's grey mare?"--which seemed conclusive
+and humorous to the last degree.  Old Pinfold was a well-known
+character in Cowfold, horse-dealer, pig-jobber, attendant at races,
+with no definite occupation, and the grey mare was an animal which he
+managed to impose upon Mr. Allen, who sued him and lost.
+
+When Mr. Allen's resolution had been duly seconded, one Rogers, a
+publican, got up and said he had something to say.  There was
+indescribable confusion, some crying, "Turn him out;" others "Pitch
+into 'em, Bill."  Bill Rogers was well known as the funny man in
+Cowfold, a half-drunken buffoon, whose wit, such as it was, was
+retailed all over the place; a man who was specially pleased if he
+could be present in any assembly collected for any serious purpose
+and turn it into ridicule.  He got upon a chair, not far from where
+George sat, but refused to go upon the platform.  "No, thank yer my
+friends, I'm best down here; up there's the place for the gentlefolk,
+the clever uns, them as buy grey mares!"--(roars of laughter)--"but,
+Mr. Chairman, with your permission"--and here Bill put his had upon
+his chest and made a most profound bow to the chair, which caused
+more laughter--"there is just one question I should like to ask--not
+about the grey mare, sir"--(roars of laughter again)--"but I see a
+young gentleman here beknown to us all"--(points to George)--"and I
+should just like to ask him, does his mother-in-law--not his mother,
+you observe, sir--does his mother-in-law know he's out?"  Once more
+there was an explosion, for Mr. Broad's refusal to take part in the
+contest was generally ascribed to Mrs. Broad.  George sat still for a
+moment, hardly realising his position, and then the blood rose to his
+head; up crashed across the forms, and before the grin had settled
+into smoothness on Bill's half-intoxicated features there was a grip
+like that of a giant on his greasy coat collar; he was dragged amidst
+shouts and blows to the door, George nothing heeding, and dismissed
+with such energy that he fell prostrate on the pavement.  His friends
+had in vain attempted to stop George's wrathful progress; but they
+were in a minority.
+
+Next Saturday a report of the scene appeared in the county newspaper,
+giving full particulars, considerably exaggerated; and Mr. Broad read
+all about it to Mrs. Broad on Saturday afternoon, in the interval
+between the preparation of his two sermons.  He had heard the story
+on the following day; but here was an authentic account in print.
+Mrs. Broad was of opinion that it was shocking; so vulgar, so low;
+her poor dear Priscilla, and so forth.  Mr. Broad's sullen animosity
+was so much stimulated that it had overcome his customary
+circumspection, and on the Sunday evening he preached from the text,
+"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To
+visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep
+himself unspotted from the world."  Mr. Broad remarked that the
+Apostle James made no mention here of the scheme of redemption; not
+because that was not the chief part of religion, but because he was
+considering religion in the aspect--he was very fond of this word
+"aspect"--which it presented to those outside the Church.  He called
+upon his hearers to reflect with him for a few moments, in the first
+place, upon what religion was not; secondly, upon what it was; and
+thirdly, he would invite their attention to a few practical
+conclusions.  He observed that religion did not consist in vain
+strife upon earthly matters, which only tended towards divisions in
+the Body of Christ.  "At such a time as this, my brethren, it is
+important for us to remember that these disputes, especially if they
+are conducted with unseemly heat, are detrimental to the interests of
+the soul and give occasion to the enemy to blaspheme."  When Mr.
+Broad came to the secondly. and to that sub-division of it which
+dealt with freedom from worldly spots, he repeated the words with
+some emphasis, "'Unspotted from the world.'  Think, my friends, of
+what this involves.  Spots!  The world spots and stains!  We are not
+called upon to withdraw ourselves from the world--the apostle does
+not say that--but to keep ourselves unspotted, uncontaminated he
+appears to mean, by worldly influence.  The word unspotted in the
+original bears that interpretation--uncontaminated.  Therefore,
+though we must be in the world, we are not to be OF the world, but to
+set an example to it.  In the world!  Yes, my brethren, we must
+necessarily be in the world; that is the condition imposed upon us by
+the Divine Providence, because we are in a state of probation; we are
+so constituted, with a body, and with fleshly appetites, that we must
+be in the world; but we must be separate from it and its
+controversies, which are so unimportant compared with our eternal
+welfare."
+
+Mr. Bushel sat on high at his desk, where he gave out the hymns, and
+coughed every now and then, and looked straight at the pew where the
+Allens and George sat.  Mr. Bushel knew well enough that, although he
+was just as ardent on the other side, the sermon was not meant for
+him, and not one of Mr. Broad's remarks touched him.  He thought only
+of the Allens, and rejoiced inwardly.  George walked home with
+Priscilla in silence.  At supper-time he suddenly said:
+
+"I think your father might have found something better to do than
+preach at me."
+
+Priscilla was shocked.  She had never heard a criticism on her father
+before.
+
+"Really, George, what are you thinking of to talk in that way about a
+sermon, and on a Sunday night too?"
+
+"He did preach at me; and if he has anything to say against me, why
+doesn't he come and say it here or at the shop?"
+
+"O George, this is dreadful!  Besides, mamma DID come and talk to
+me."
+
+"What has that got to do with it?  Well, what did your mother say?"
+
+"Why, she told me all about thus meeting, and how you fought a man
+and nearly killed him, and you a member at Tanner's Lane, and how you
+oughtn't to have been there at all, and what Mr. Bushel was going to
+do."
+
+"Oughtn't to have been there at all?  Why not?  I don't believe you
+know any more than this table why I was there."
+
+"Oh yes, I do.  You never tell me anything, but Mrs. Bushel told me.
+You want to get them all turned out of their farms."
+
+"Bosh!  There you are again!--the pains I took the other night again
+to make you comprehend what Free Trade meant.  I knew you didn't
+understand a word about it; and if you did understand, you wouldn't
+believe me.  You never take any notice of anything I say; but if Mrs.
+Bushel or any other blockhead tells you anything, you believe that
+directly."
+
+Priscilla's eyes filled; she took out her handkerchief, and went
+upstairs.  George sat still for a while, and then followed her.  He
+found her sitting by the baby's cradle, her head on her hands and
+sobbing.  It touched him beyond measure to see how she retreated to
+her child; he went to her; his anger was once more forgotten, and
+once more he was reconciled with kisses and self-humiliation.  The
+next morning, however, as he went to the square, the conversation of
+the night before returned to him.  "What does it all mean?" he cried
+to himself.  "Would to God it were either one thing or another!  I
+could be happy if I really cared for her, and if I hated her
+downright I could endure it like any other calamity which cannot be
+altered; but this is more than I can bear!"
+
+The Allens, father and mother, held anxious debate whether they
+should take any notice of the attack by their pastor, and in the end
+determined to do nothing.  They considered, and rightly considered,
+that any action on their part would only make George's position more
+difficult, and he was the first person to be considered.
+
+Next Saturday there was some business to be done in London, and
+George went, this time by himself.  On the Sunday morning he called
+on the Colemans, and found Zachariah at home, but Pauline away.  Mr.
+Bradshaw, too, was not to preach that day.  It was wet, and Zachariah
+and George sat and talked, first about the election, and then about
+other indifferent subjects.  Conversation--even of the best, and
+between two friends--is poor work when one of the two suffers from
+some secret sorrow which he cannot reveal, and George grew weary.
+Zachariah knew what was the matter with him, and had known it for a
+long while, but was too tender to hint his knowledge.  Nevertheless,
+remembering his own history, he pitied the poor boy exceedingly.  He
+loved him as his own child, for his father's sake, and loved him all
+the more for an experience so nearly resembling another which he
+recollected too well.
+
+"How is it Mr. Bradshaw is not preaching to-day?" said George.
+
+"He is ill; I am afraid he is breaking up; and latterly he has been
+worried by the small attacks made upon him by people who are afraid
+to say anything distinctly."
+
+"What kind of attacks?"
+
+"Well, they insinuate that he is Arian."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+Zachariah explained the case as well as he could, and George was much
+interested.
+
+"Arian or not, I tell you one thing, Mr. Coleman, that Mr. Bradshaw,
+whenever I have heard him, seems to help me as Mr. Broad never does.
+I never think about what Mr. Broad says except when I am in chapel,
+and sometimes not then."
+
+"Bradshaw speaks from himself.  He said a thing last Sunday which
+stuck by me, and would have pleased a country lad like you more than
+it did three parts of his congregation, who are not so familiar with
+country life as he is.  He told us he was out for a holiday, and saw
+some men hoeing in a field--'Hoeing the charlock,' he said to
+himself; but when he came nearer he found they were hoeing turnips--
+hoeing up the poor plants themselves, which lay dying all around;
+hoeing them up to let the other plants have room to grow.
+
+"I have known men," added Zachariah after a pause, "from whose life
+so much--all love, for example--has been cut out; and the effect has
+been, not ruin, but growth in other directions which we should never
+have seen without it."
+
+Zachariah took down a little book from his shelf, and wrote George's
+name in it.
+
+"There, my boy, it is not much to look at, but I know nothing better,
+and keep it always in your pocket.  It is the Imitation of Christ.
+You will find a good deal in it which will suit you, and you will
+say, as I have said a thousand times over it, that other people may
+write of science or philosophy, but this man writes about me."
+
+He put it on the table, and George opened it at the sentence, "He
+that can best tell how to suffer will best keep himself in peace.
+That man is conqueror of himself, and lord of the world, the friend
+of Christ, and the heir of heaven."  He turned over the leaves again-
+-"He to whom the Eternal Word speaketh is delivered from a world of
+unnecessary conceptions."  Zachariah bent his head near him and
+gently expounded the texts.  As the exposition grew George's heart
+dilated, and he was carried beyond his troubles.  It was the birth in
+him--even in him, a Cowfold ironmonger, not a scholar by any means--
+of what philosophers call the IDEA, that Incarnation which has ever
+been our Redemption.  He said nothing to Zachariah about his own
+affairs, nor did Zachariah, as before observed, say anything to him;
+but the two knew one another, and felt that they knew one another as
+intimately as if George had imparted to his friend the minutest
+details of his unhappiness with his wife.
+
+Towards the end of the afternoon Pauline returned, and inquired how
+the battle went in Cowfold.
+
+"I am afraid we shall be beaten.  Sometimes I don't seem to care much
+about it."
+
+"Don't care!  Why not?"
+
+"Oh, we talk and talk, father and I, and somehow people's minds are
+made up without talking, and nobody ever changes.  When we have our
+meetings, who is it who comes?  Does Bushel come?  Not a bit of it.
+We only get our own set."
+
+"Well," said Zachariah, the old man's republican revolutionary ardour
+returning, "this is about the only struggle in which I have felt much
+interest of late years.  I should like to have cheap bread, and what
+is more, I should like to deprive the landlords of that bit of the
+price which makes the bread dear.  I agree with you, my boy.  Endless
+discussion is all very well--forms 'public opinion,' they say; but I
+wish a could be put to it when it has come round to where it began;
+that one side could say to the other, 'You have heard all our logic,
+and we have heard all yours;' now then, let us settle it.  'Who is
+the strongest and best drilled?'  I believe in insurrection.
+Everlasting debate--and it is not genuine debate, for nobody really
+ranges himself alongside his enemy's strongest points--demoralises us
+all.  It encourages all sorts of sophistry, becomes mere manoeuvring,
+and saps people's faith in the truth.  In half an hour, if two
+persons were to sit opposite one another, they could muster every
+single reason for and against Free Trade.  What is the use of going
+on after that?  Moreover, insurrection strengthens the belief of men
+in the right.  A man who voluntarily incurs the risk of being shot
+believes ever afterwards, if he escapes, a little more earnestly than
+he did before.  'Who is on the Lord's side, let him come unto me,'
+says the flag.  Insurrection strengthens, too, the faith of others.
+When a company of poor men meet together and declare that things have
+got to such a pass that they will either kill their enemies or die
+themselves, the world then thinks there must, after all, be SOME
+difference between right and wrong."
+
+"Father, that is all past now.  We must settle our quarrels in the
+appointed way.  Don't say anything to discourage Mr. Allen.  Besides,
+people are not so immovable as you think.  How they alter I don't
+know; but they do alter.  There is a much larger minority in favour
+of Free Trade than there was ten years ago."
+
+"All past now, is it?  You will see one of these days."
+
+It was time for tea, and Pauline left to get the tea-things.  In the
+evening they strolled out for a walk through Barnsbury and up Maiden
+Lane, then a real and pretty lane stretching north-westwards through
+hedges to Highgate.  After they had gone a few hundred yards
+Zachariah went back; he had forgotten something, and George and
+Pauline walked on slowly together.  The street was crowded, for it
+was just about church time, but on the opposite side of the road
+George saw somebody whom he knew, but who took no notice of him.
+
+"How odd!" he said to Pauline; "that is Tom Broad!  What is he doing
+here, I wonder?"
+
+Pauline made no answer, and at that moment Zachariah rejoined them.
+
+The reason for Mr. Thomas Broad's appearance in that quarter will be
+best explained by the following letter, which he had received the day
+before from his father:-
+
+
+"My Dear Thomas,--I was very glad to hear of your success at Mr.
+Martin's chapel, at Hackney, on Sunday afternoon.  Although it was
+nothing more than an afternoon service, you must remember that it is
+the first invitation to a metropolitan pulpit which you have
+received.  It would be as well if you were to call on Mr. Martin at
+your earliest convenience, and also on Mr. Chandler, in Leather Lane,
+whom you mentioned to me, and who, I believe, is a prominent deacon.
+The choice of your subject was judicious, although it is not so easy
+to fix the character of a discourse for the afternoon as for the
+morning or evening.  'I will give him a white stone' is a text I have
+used myself with great profit.  A young minister, I need hardly say,
+my dear Thomas, ought to confine himself to what is generally
+accepted, and not to particularise.  For this reason he should avoid
+not only all disputed topics, but, as far as possible, all reference
+to particular offences.  I always myself doubted the wisdom, for
+example, of sermons against covetousness, or worldliness, or
+hypocrisy.  Let us follow our Lord and Master, and warn our hearers
+against sin, and leave the application to the Holy Spirit.  I only
+mention this matter now because I have found two or three young
+students err in this direction, and the error, I am sure, militates
+against their usefulness.
+
+"Your dear mamma and Tryphosa are both quite well.  Not so Priscilla.
+I grieve to say she is NOT well.  George's conduct lately has been
+very strange.  I am afraid that he will be a trouble not only to us,
+but to the Church of Christ.  Both he and his father have kindled
+strife amongst us in this unhappy election contest, for which, as a
+minister of God's Word, I have held aloof.  For one or two Sundays
+the Allens have absented themselves from Divine service in the
+evening, and we know that there has been no sickness in the house.  I
+feel certain that before long they will withdraw their subscription.
+I have good reason to believe that their friend, Mr. Coleman,
+exercises a very baleful influence upon them.  However, God's will be
+done!  These are the trials which His servants who minister to His
+flock must expect.  Good-bye, my dear Thomas.  Mamma and Tryphosa
+send their love.  Give diligence to make your calling and election
+sure.--Your affectionate father,
+
+"JOHN BROAD.
+
+"P.S.--It will be as well, perhaps, if you can ascertain whether the
+Allens visit the Colemans, and more particularly if George goes
+there.  The Coleman household consists, I believe, of a father and
+daughter.  You will remember that Coleman has been a convict, and, I
+have heard, has tendencies towards infidelity.  Priscilla informs me
+that Mr. Allen and George will be in London to-morrow; but she does
+not know what they are going to do there.  You will doubtless be able
+to obtain the information I desire, and on future occasions I will
+also advise you when either George or his father is in the
+metropolis."
+
+
+Mr. Thomas Broad had his own reasons for complying with his father's
+request.  He hated the Colemans and George with as much active
+malignity as was possible to his heavy unctuous nature.  Why he
+should hate the Colemans is intelligible, and his hatred to George
+can also be explained, partly through sympathy between father and
+son, and partly because the hatred of a person like Thomas Broad to a
+person like George Allen needs no explanation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV--"AND A MAN'S FOES SHALL BE THEY OF HIS OWN HOUSEHOLD"
+
+
+
+The county polling day meanwhile drew near, and with its approach
+party spirit rose and the mutual exasperation of both sides
+increased.  George and his father were out every evening at the
+Institute or canvassing, and George's first attempts at public
+speaking were a success.  At length the day dawned which was to
+decide their fate.  Cowfold was the polling station for a large
+district, and both sides fully recognised its importance.  The
+Democratic colour was orange, and the Tory was purple.  Everybody
+wore rosettes, and bands of music went about the town, carrying flags
+and banners, which had such an effect upon the Cowfold population,
+more particularly upon that portion of it which knew nothing whatever
+of the questions at issue, that the mere sound of the instruments or
+sight of a bit of bunting tied to a pole was sufficient to enable
+them to dare a broken head, or even death.  Beer may have been partly
+the cause of this peculiar mental condition, but not entirely, for
+sober persons felt the contagion.  We may laugh at it if we please,
+and no doubt it is evidence of the weakness of human nature; but,
+like much more evidence of the same order, it is double-voiced, and
+testifies also to our strength.
+
+Priscilla was staying that night with her mother.  Mr. Broad's house,
+at the end of the town, was very quiet, and George did not care to
+leave her alone with the servant.  Those were the days when the state
+of the poll was published every hour, and as Cowfold lay near the
+centre of the county a very fair opinion could be formed of the
+progress of the voting.  By three o'clock it was known that up to
+eleven parties were neck and neck, and the excitement grew more and
+more intense.  Every public-house in Cowfold was free, and soon after
+dinner-time there was not a single person in the place who was ever
+drunk before who had not found it necessary to get drunk then in
+order to support the strain on his nerves.  Four o'clock came, and
+the polling-booth was shut; the numbers were made up, and the two
+committees now anxiously awaited the news from the outlying
+districts.  The general impression seemed to be that the popular
+candidate would win by about a dozen, and by eight o'clock a crowd
+had assembled before the "Cross Keys" to give due welcome to the
+desired announcement.  Ten o'clock came, and the mob began to get
+impatient and unruly.  Then there was a stir and a roar, and the
+whole assemblage rushed off to the "Angel," in the square.  On the
+balcony was a huge placard, with the purple hero at the top--1837--
+and below was the orange favourite, in small and ignominious figures-
+-1831.  Bushel stood at the open window waving his hat, apparently
+half frantic.  Just underneath him was a smaller crowd of the purple
+faction, who were cheering and bawling with all their might as the
+enemy came in sight.  In an instant the conflict had begun.  The
+purple banners were the first objects of attack, and disappeared
+every one of them, in less than five minutes, underfoot.  Seen from
+one of the upper storeys of the houses, the square looked like a
+great pot full of boiling confusion.  By degrees the wearers of
+purple were driven hard against the "Angel" yard-gates, which opened
+to receive them; some who were not successful in securing admittance
+escaping, with bloody heads, down the side lane, and so out across
+the fields.  There was great difficulty in shutting the gates again;
+but the "Angel" hostlers appeared on the scene with pitchforks and
+other weapons, which caused an ebb of the tide for a moment.  They
+managed in the nick of time to swing the gates together, and the
+heavy wooden bar was thrown across them.  The orange party was now
+triumphant, but very unhappy, because it was able to do no further
+mischief.  Suddenly Bushel was seen again at the window, and, as it
+was afterwards averred, made some insulting gesture.  A stone was the
+prompt response, and in five minutes there was not a whole pane of
+glass left in the front of the building.  "Have old Bushel out!
+Smoke 'em out!" was shouted, and a rush followed towards the door.
+But the insurgents had no siege train for such a fortress, and the
+sight of two or three fowling-pieces somewhat damped their courage.
+They therefore turned off, wrecked the brewer's house, and forced the
+"Angel" tap, which was separated from the main building.  The spirit-
+casks were broached, and men turned the gin and brandy taps into
+their mouths without waiting for glasses.  Many of them, especially
+those who first entered, were at once overcome and dropped, lying
+about in the room and in the gutter perfectly insensible.  The
+remainder, who could only drink what was left, became more and more
+riotous, and a general sack of all purple property was imminent.  Mr.
+Allen was at the "Cross Keys," but George was at home, and as he
+watched the scene he saw the mob take a kind of lurch and sway along
+the street which led to Mr. Broad's.  He thought he heard Mr. Broad's
+name, and in an instant he had buttoned-up his coat, taken the
+heaviest stick he could find, and was off.  He had the greatest
+difficulty in forcing his way, and he did not reach the front of the
+crowd till it was opposite Mr. Broad's and the destruction of the
+windows had begun.  He leaped over the iron railing, and presented
+himself at the gate with the orange rosette on his coat and the stick
+in his right hand.  He was just in time, for yells of "Psalm-singing
+old hypocrite!" were already in the air, and the fence was being
+stormed.  George administered to the foremost ruffian a blow on the
+shoulder which felled him on the path outside, and then, standing on
+the low brick wall on which the railings rested, showed his rosette,
+brandished his club, and made some kind of inarticulate
+expostulation, which, happily for him and Mr. Broad, was received
+with cheers.  Whether taken by itself it would have been effectual or
+not cannot be said, for just at that moment a more powerful auxiliary
+appeared.  When the "Angel" was abandoned the imprisoned garrison,
+amongst whom were one or two county magistrates, held a brief
+consultation.  They organised their force and marched out, the well-
+to-do folk in front and abreast, armed with bludgeons, the "Angel"
+dependents--and about fifty more of the refugees coming in the rear,
+every garden and stable weapon of offence being distributed amongst
+them.  They had the advantage, of course, of being sober.  They
+advanced at a run, and their tramp was heard just as George was
+beginning to try the effect of his eloquence.  Panic and scattering
+flight at once followed, not, however, before some dozen or so of the
+fugitives had recovered what little sense they ever had by virtue of
+sundry hard knocks on their skulls, and a dozen more or so had been
+captured.  By twelve o'clock Cowfold was quiet and peaceable.
+
+Citizens were left to wonder how their town, lying usually so
+sleepily still, like a farmyard on a summer Sunday afternoon, could
+ever transform itself after this fashion.  Men unknown and never
+before seen seemed suddenly to spring out of the earth, and as
+suddenly to disappear.  Who were they?  Respectable Cowfold, which
+thought it knew everybody in the place, could not tell.  There was no
+sign of their existence on the next day.  People gathered together
+and looked at the mischief wrought the night before, and talked
+everlastingly about it; but the doers of it vanished, rapt away
+apparently into an invisible world.  On Sunday next, at one o'clock,
+Cowfold Square, save for a few windows not yet mended, looked just as
+it always looked; that is to say, not a soul was visible in it, and
+the pump was, as usual, chained.
+
+The band of rescuers had passed George as he stood in the garden, and
+when they had gone he knocked at the door.  It was a long time before
+anybody came, but at last it was partly opened, just as far as the
+chain would permit, and the Reverend John Broad, looking very white
+and with a candle in his hand appeared.
+
+"It is I, George, Mr. Broad.  Please tell me how Priscilla is, and--
+how you all are after your fright.  I will not come in if you are all
+well."
+
+"No, Mr. George, you will not come in.  I little thought that a
+member of Tanner's Lane Church, and my daughter's husband, would
+associate himself with such disgraceful proceedings as those we have
+witnessed this evening."
+
+"But, Mr. Broad, you are quite mistaken.  I was not with the mob.  I
+came here as soon as I could to protect you."
+
+Mr. Broad, terrified and wrathful, had, however, disappeared, and
+George heard the bolts drawn.  He was beside himself with passion,
+and knocked again and again, but there was no answer.  He was
+inclined to try and break open the door at first, or seek an entrance
+through a window, but he thought of Priscilla, and desisted.
+
+He was turning homewards, when he reflected that it would be useless
+to attempt to go to sleep, and he wandered out into the country
+towards Piddingfold, pondering over many things.  The reaction of
+that night had been too severe.  His ardour was again almost entirely
+quenched when he saw the men for whom he had worked, and who
+professed themselves his supporters, filthily drunk.  A noble
+sentence, however, from the Idler came into his mind--his mother had
+a copy of the Idler in her bedroom, and read and re-read it, and
+oftentimes quoted it to her husband and her son--"He that has
+improved the virtue or advanced the happiness of one fellow-creature
+. . may be contented with his own performance; and, with respect to
+mortals like himself, may demand, like Augustus, to be dismissed at
+his departure with applause."  He reflected that he, an ironmonger's
+son, was not born to save the world, and if the great Dr. Johnson
+could say what he did, with how little ought not a humble Cowfold
+tradesman to be satisfied!  We all of us have too vast a conception
+of the duty which Providence has imposed upon us; and one great
+service which modern geology and astronomy have rendered is the
+abatement of the fever by which earnest people are so often consumed.
+But George's meditations all through that night were in the main
+about his wife, and as soon as he reached his shop in the morning,
+the first thing he did was to write a note to her telling her to come
+home.  This she did, although her mother and father objected, and
+George found her there at dinner-time.  She looked pale and careworn,
+but this, of course, was set down to fright.  She was unusually
+quiet, and George forbore to say anything about her father's
+behaviour.  He dreaded rather to open the subject; he could not tell
+to what it might lead.  Priscilla knew all about George's repulse
+from her father's door, and George could tell she knew it.
+
+His father and he had determined that Cowfold would not be a pleasant
+place for them on the following Sunday, and that business, moreover,
+demanded their presence in London.  Thither, accordingly, they went
+on the Saturday, as usual; and Priscilla naturally communicating
+their intention to her mother, Mr. Thomas Broad received an epistle
+from his father something like one we have already read, but still
+more imperative in its orders that the dutiful son should see whether
+the Allens made Zachariah's house their head-quarters.  That they did
+not sleep there was well-known, but it was believed they had constant
+intercourse with that unregenerate person, a disciple of Voltaire, as
+the Reverend John Broad firmly believed, and it would be
+"advantageous to possess accumulated evidence of the fact."
+Priscilla knew that they lodged always at the "George and Blue Boar";
+but how they spent their time on Sunday she did not know.  There was
+also a postscript, this time with a new import:
+
+
+"It has been reported that Coleman's daughter is a young female not
+without a certain degree of attractiveness.  It may perhaps, my dear
+Thomas, be some day of service to me and to the church if you were to
+inform me whether you have observed any tendencies towards
+familiarity between George and this person.  I need not at the
+present moment give you my reasons for this inquiry.  It will be
+sufficient to say that I have nothing more in view than the welfare
+of the flock which Divine Providence has committed to my charge."
+
+
+Mr. Thomas did his duty, and a letter was received by his father on
+the following Tuesday, which was carefully locked up in the drawer in
+which the sermons were preserved.
+
+The next day--that is to say, on Wednesday--George was at work, as
+usual, when his little maid came to say that her mistress was very
+bad, and would he go home directly?  She had been unwell for some
+days, but it was not thought that there was anything serious the
+matter with her.  George followed the girl at once, and found
+Priscilla in bed with a violent headache and very feverish.  The
+doctor came, and pronounced it a case of "low fever," a disease well
+enough known in Cowfold.  Let us make the dismal story as brief as
+possible.  Nurse Barton, hearing of her "dear boy's" trouble,
+presented herself uninvited that evening at ten o'clock, and insisted
+that George should not sit up.  She remained in the house,
+notwithstanding Mrs. Broad's assurances that she really was not
+wanted, and watched over Priscilla till the end came.
+
+About a week afterwards, just when Priscilla seemed to be getting a
+little better--she had been delirious, but her senses had returned--
+and Mrs. Allen, who had been in the house all day, had departed, a
+change for the worse took place, and the doctor was summoned.
+George, sitting in the parlour alone, heard Nurse Barton come
+downstairs.
+
+"My dear boy," she said as she entered, "God in His mercy strengthen
+you in this trial as He has laid upon you, but I thought I'd just
+come and tell you myself.  The doctor wor a-comm', but I said 'No; my
+boy shall hear it from me.'  I don't think as your wife will get
+better; she don't seem to pull herself up a bit.  She a'nt got no
+strength no more than a fly.  You'd better see her, I think."
+
+"Who is there?"
+
+"Her mother and the doctor."
+
+"Can't you get rid of them?"
+
+"All right, my dear.  I must stay with you both, but you won't mind
+me--God bless you!" and the woman put her arms round George's neck
+and kissed him tenderly.
+
+She returned, and presently she redeemed her promise, for she
+actually got Mrs. Broad away.  At first she was obstinate, but
+Priscilla whispered that she wished to see her husband alone, and the
+doctor took upon him to warn Mrs. Broad that resistance on her part
+might be dangerous.  She then retreated with him, and George found
+himself by the bedside.  His wife was so prostrate that she was
+hardly able to make herself heard, but she lifted up her finger and
+made a sign that he should bend his head down to her.  He bent it
+down, and her damp brown hair--the beautiful brown hair he had loved
+so--lay on his forehead, and its scent was all about him once more.
+
+"George, my dear," she just breathed out, "I am a poor silly girl,
+but I always loved you."
+
+He stopped her instantly with his kisses, but Death had stopped her
+too.  He recoiled for a moment, and with a sudden scream.  "O God,
+she's gone!" he fell into the arms of his nurse, who stood behind
+him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI--A PROFESSIONAL CONSULTATION
+
+
+
+Three months passed, during which the Allens' pew was vacant at
+Tanner's Lane.  George remained at home with his only child, or was
+at his mother's, or, shocking to relate, was in the fields, but not
+at chapel; nor were any of his family there.  During the whole of
+these three months one image was for ever before his eyes.  What
+self-accusations!  Of what injustice had he not been guilty?  Little
+things, at the time unnoticed, turns of her head, smiles, the fall of
+her hair--oh, that sweet sweet brown hair!--all came back to him, and
+were as real before him as the garden wall.  He thought of her lying
+in her grave--she whom he had caressed--of what was going on down
+there, under the turf, and he feared he should go mad.  Where was
+she?  Gone, for ever gone--gone before he had been able to make her
+understand how much he really loved her, and so send her to sleep in
+peace.  But was she not in heaven?  Would he not see her again?  He
+did not know.  Strange to say, but true, he, a member of Tanner's
+Lane Church, who had never read a sceptical book in his life, was
+obliged to confess, perhaps not consciously, but none the less
+actually, he did not know.
+
+In those dark three months the gospel according to Tanner's Lane did
+nothing for him, and he was cast forth to wrestle with his sufferings
+alone.  It is surely a terrible charge to bring against a religious
+system, that in the conflict which has to be waged by every son of
+Adam with disease, misfortune, death, the believers in it are
+provided with neither armour nor weapons.  Surely a real religion,
+handed down from century to century, ought to have accumulated a
+store of consolatory truths which will be of some help to us in time
+of need.  If it can tell us nothing, if we cannot face a single
+disaster any the better for it, and if we never dream of turning to
+it when we are in distress, of what value is it?  There is one
+religious teacher, however, which seldom fails those who are in
+health, and, at last, did not fail him.  He was helped by no priest
+and by no philosophy; but Nature helped him, the beneficent Power
+which heals the burn or scar and covers it with new skin.
+
+At the end of the three months the Reverend John Broad received a
+brief note from Mr. Allen announcing that their pew at the chapel
+could be considered vacant, and that the subscription would be
+discontinued.  Within a week Mr. Broad invited Brother Bushel,
+Brother Wainwright the cart-builder and blacksmith, and Brother
+Scotton the auctioneer, to a private meeting at his own house.  In a
+short speech Mr. Broad said that he had sought a preliminary
+conference with them to lay before them the relationship in which the
+Allens stood to the church in Tanner's Lane.  They had formally
+ceased to attend his ministrations, but of course, as yet, they
+remained on the church books.  It was a matter which he, as the
+minister of the flock, felt could not any longer be overlooked.  He
+would say nothing of the part which the Allens had taken in the late
+unhappy controversies which had distracted the town, excepting that
+he considered they had displayed a heat and animosity inconsistent
+with their professions and detrimental to the best interests of the
+cause.
+
+"I agree with that, Mr. Broad," interrupted Mr. Bushel; "and I may
+say that, as you know, if you had done nothing, _I_ SHOULD; for how
+any member of the--gospel--could live in--and go on--peace harmony
+with all men in the Church of Christ, I, at, least--that's my
+opinion."  Mr. Bushel was shortnecked, and shook his head always
+while he was talking, apparently in order to disengage his meaning,
+which consequently issued in broken fragments.
+
+Mr. Broad resumed--"I may, however, observe that George Allen was in
+company with the intoxicated mob which devastated Cowfold; and
+although he has asserted that he merely endeavoured to control its
+excesses--and such appears to be the view taken by the civil
+authorities who have prosecuted the perpetrators of the outrages--we,
+as members, my dear brethren, of Christ's Body, have to be guided by
+other considerations.  While upon this subject of George Allen, I may
+say, with as much delicacy as is permissible to a faithful minister
+of God's holy Word, that I fear George has been--a--h'm--what shall I
+say?--at least led astray by an unhappy intimacy with a female
+residing in the metropolis who is an infidel.  I have no doubt in my
+own mind that the knowledge of this fact accelerated the departure of
+my dear daughter, whose sorrow was of a twofold character--sorrow, in
+the first place, with regard to her husband's unfaithfulness, causing
+her thereby much personal affliction, which, however, endureth but
+for a moment, for she now inherits a far more exceeding weight of
+glory"--Mr. Broad's week-day and extempore quotations from the Bible
+were always rather muddled--"and, in the second place, sorrow for her
+husband's soul.  I think we have distinct evidence of this intimacy,
+which I shall be able to produce at the proper moment.  We have all
+observed, too, that whilst the Allens have not latterly attended
+Divine Service at Tanner's Lane, they have not seceded to another
+place of worship.  Finally, and by way of conclusion, let me remark
+that I have wrestled long with the Lord to know what was my duty
+towards these apostates and towards the Church of Christ.  I
+considered at first I ought to remonstrate privately with Mr. Allen;
+but, alas! he has shown a recalcitrant disposition whenever I have
+attempted to approach him.  I have consulted Brother Bushel on the
+subject; indeed, I may say that Brother Bushel had previously
+intimated to me the necessity of taking some steps in the matter, and
+had assured me that he could not any longer occupy the prominent
+position which he now occupies in the church--so much, I may say, to
+our own edification and advantage--if something were not done.  We
+think, therefore, that the church should be privately convoked for
+deliberation.  Brother Wainwright, what counsel have you to give?"
+
+Brother Wainwright always had a heavy account with Brother Bushel.
+He was a little man, with a little round head covered with straggling
+hair, which came over his forehead.  He sat with his hat between his
+knees, looked into it, scratched his head, and said with a jerk, "Oi
+agree with Brother Bushel."
+
+"Brother Scotton, what do you say?"
+
+Brother Scotton was a Cowfold man, tall and thin, superintendent of
+the Sunday-school, and to a considerable extent independent of
+village custom.  He was not only an auctioneer, but a land surveyor;
+he also valued furniture, and when there were any houses to be let,
+drew up agreements, made inventories, and had even been known to
+prepare leases.  There was always, therefore, a legal flavour about
+him, and he prided himself on his distant professional relationship
+to full-blown attorneyhood.  It was tacitly understood in Cowfold
+that his opinion in certain cases was at least equal to that of
+Mortimer, Wake, Collins & Mortimer who acted as solicitors for half
+the county.  Mr. Scotton, too, represented Cowfold urban intelligence
+as against agricultural rusticity; and another point in his favour
+was, that he had an office--no shop--with a wire blind in the window
+with the words, "Scotton, Land Agent, Auctioneer, and Appraiser,"
+painted on it.  On Mr. Broad's present appeal for his verdict put
+himself in a meditative attitude, stretched out his legs to their
+full length, threw his head back, took his lower lip in his left
+hand, pulled up his legs again, bent forward, put his hands on his
+knees, and looked sideways at Mr. Broad.
+
+"I suppose that Mr. Allen and his son will have the charges
+communicated to them, Mr. Broad, and be summoned to attend the
+meeting?"
+
+"What do you say, Brother Bushel?"
+
+"Don't see no use in it.  All very well them lawyers"--a snap at
+Scotton--"come and argyfy--I hate argyfying, I do myself--never seed
+no good on it.  Get rid of a man--I do.  'Sickly sheep infects the
+flock and pisons all the rest.'"  These last words formed part of a
+hymn of which Brother Bushel was fond.
+
+"What do you say, Brother Wainwright?"
+
+Brother Wainwright, although he could do nothing but agree with
+Brother Bushel, and never did anything but agree with him, preferred
+to make a show of reflection.  He again looked in his hat, shut his
+mouth fast; again scratched his head; again shook it a little, and
+with another jerk, as if announcing a conclusion at which he had
+arrived with great certainty, but after a severe mental effort, he
+said:
+
+"Oi go with Brother Bushel, Oi do."
+
+"Well," said Scotton, extending his legs again and gazing at the
+ceiling, "I must nevertheless be permitted to adhere--"
+
+"Adhere," interrupted Bushel.  "What's the use of talking like that?
+You always adhere--what for, I should like to know?"
+
+Scotton went on with dignity, not noticing the attack.
+
+"Adhere, I was about to say, Mr. Broad, to my previously expressed
+opinion.  I am not at all sure that the Allens have not a legal
+status, and that an action would not lie if we proceeded without due
+formalities.  Tanner's Lane, you must recollect, is in a peculiar
+position, and there is an endowment."
+
+Mr. Scotton had this advantage over Cowfold generally, that if he
+knew nothing about the law himself, excepting so far as bids at a
+sale were concerned, Cowfold knew less, and the mention of the
+endowment somewhat disturbed Mr. Broad's mind.
+
+"Brother Bushel is no doubt quite justified in his anxiety to avoid
+discussion, which will in all probability lead to no useful result;
+but, on the other hand, it will be as well, perhaps, to proceed with
+caution."
+
+"Well," ejaculated Bushel, "do as yer like; you'll see you'll get in
+an argyfication and a mess, you take my word on it."
+
+"Suppose," said Mr. Broad, his face shining as he spoke, "we hit upon
+a third course, the via media, you know, Brother Scotton"--Brother
+Scotton nodded approvingly, as much as to say, "_I_ know; but how
+about Bushel?"--"the via media, and have a friendly meeting of the
+most influential members of the church--a majority--and determine
+upon a course of action, which we can afterwards ratify at the formal
+meeting, at which the Allens will be present.  We shall in this way,
+it seems to me, prevent much debate, and practically arrive at a
+conclusion beforehand."
+
+"Yes," said Scotton--very slowly.  "I don't see, at the present
+moment, any particular objection; but I should not like to commit
+myself."
+
+"How does it strike you, Brother Bushel?"
+
+"Arter that, I suppose Scotton ull want some sort of a dockyment
+sent.  I'm agin all deckyments.  Why, what'll Allen do?  Take it over
+to Collins--Mortimer--stamp it, ten-and-sixpenny stamp.  What will
+yer do then?"
+
+"No, Brother Bushel; I apprehend that it will be my duty as pastor to
+write to the Allens a simple letter--a simple pastoral letter--
+announcing that a church meeting will be convened at a certain hour
+in the vestry, to consider some statements--charges--naming them--not
+going into unnecessary detail, and requesting their attendance."
+
+"That's better; that wouldn't be a dockyment, I s'pose; and yet praps
+he might stamp that.  Resolution arterwards.  Time they were out of
+it.  Come on, Wainwright, gettin' dark."
+
+"Well then, we agree," said Mr. Broad--"happily agree; and I trust
+that the Lord will yet prosper His Zion, and heal the breaches
+thereof.  Will any of you take any refreshments before you go?  Will
+you, Brother Bushel?"
+
+Brother Bushel did not believe in Mr. Broad's refreshments, save
+those which were spiritual, and declined them with some abruptness,
+preferring much a glass of hot brown brandy and water at the inn
+where his horse was.  Brother Wainwright would have taken anything,
+but was bound to follow Brother Bushel, who was about to give him a
+lift homewards; and Brother Scotton was a teetotaller, one of the
+first who was converted to total abstinence in Cowfold, and just a
+trifle suspected at Tanner's Lane, and by Bushel in particular, on
+that account.  Water-drinking was not a heresy to which any definite
+objection could be raised; but Tanner's Lane always felt that if once
+a man differed so far from his fellows as not to drink beer and
+spirits, there was no knowing where the division might end.  "It was
+the thin end of the wedge," Mr. Broad observed confidentially to
+Bushel once when the subject was mentioned.
+
+The preliminary meeting, therefore, was held, and Mr. Broad having
+communicated the charges against the Allens--absenting themselves
+from public worship, disturbance of the peace of the church,
+intercourse with infidel associates, and finally so far as George was
+concerned, "questionable behaviour," as Mr. Broad delicately put it,
+"with an infidel female"--it was determined to call them to account.
+There was some difference of opinion, however.  It was thought by
+some that all reference to the election, direct or indirect, should
+be avoided, for the majority in Tanner's Lane was certainly not Tory.
+But Brother Bushel seemed to consider this the head and front of the
+offence, and declared that if this were not part of the indictment he
+would resign.  He also was opposed to giving the Allens any
+information beforehand, and, if he had been allowed to have his own
+way, would not have permitted them to attend.  He would have them
+"cut off," he said, "there and then, summararlilly."  He got into
+great difficulties with this last word, and before he could get rid
+of it had to shake his head several times.  Others thought it would
+be dangerous to act in this style; and there seemed no chance of any
+agreement, until Mr. Broad once more "healed the incipient division"
+by proposing another via media, which was carried.  It was determined
+that there should be only an allusion to the political charge.  It
+was to be subsidiary.  In fact, it was not to be a political charge
+at all, but a moral charge, although, as Mr. Broad privately
+explained to Brother Bushel, it would come to the same thing in the
+end.  Then Mr. Broad, as he had suggested at an earlier stage, was
+himself to write a letter to the Allens, stating in "general terms"
+the dissatisfaction felt by the church and its minister with them,
+and requesting their appearance in the vestry on the day named.
+Brother Scotton was still malcontent, but as he was in a minority he
+held his peace.  He resolved, however, on his own account, to
+acquaint the Allens with what had happened, and prepare them.  They
+were no particular friends of his, but Bushel also was no particular
+friend, and his auctioneering trade had at least educated him, in the
+disputes amongst buyers, to hold the scales of justice a little more
+evenly than they were held by Bushel's hands.
+
+Neither George nor his father were much disturbed by any of the items
+in Scotton's information nor by Mr. Broad's letter, save the
+reference to Pauline.  It is true it was very remote, but the
+meaning, especially after Scotton's explanation, was obvious, and
+George was in a fury which his father found it very difficult to
+repress.  For himself George did not care, but he did care that
+Pauline's name should not be dragged into the wretched squabble.
+Father and son both agreed that the case should be laid before
+Zachariah; but when Mr. Allen came back from London he merely said,
+in answer to George's inquiries, that Zachariah and himself were in
+perfect accord, and that at the meeting George was not to interfere.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII--MR. BROAD'S LAST CHURCH MEETING--LATIMER CHAPEL
+
+
+
+The eventful evening at last arrived.  It had been announced from the
+pulpit on the Sunday before that a special meeting of the church
+would be held on the following Wednesday to consider certain
+questions of discipline--nothing more--as it was not thought proper
+before the general congregation to introduce matters with which the
+church alone was qualified to deal.  Everybody, however, knew what
+was intended, and when Wednesday night came the vestry was crowded.
+Mr. Broad sat in a seat slightly elevated at the end of the room,
+with a desk before him.  On his right hand was Brother Bushel, on the
+left was Brother Scotton, and on the front bench were Brother
+Wainwright and a few of the more important members, amongst whom was
+Thomas Broad, who, although it was a week-day, was in full
+ministerial costume; that is to say, he wore his black--not pepper-
+and-salt--trousers and a white neckerchief.  Mr. Allen and George
+were at the back of the room.  There were no women there, for
+although women were members as well as men, it was always an
+understood thing at Tanner's Lane that they were to take no part in
+the business of the community.  Seven o'clock having struck, Mr.
+Broad rose and said, "Let us pray."  He prayed for about ten minutes,
+and besought the Almighty to shed abroad His Holy Spirit upon them
+for their guidance.  As the chosen people had been brought through
+the wilderness and delivered from the manifold perils therein, so
+God, he hoped, would lead His flock then assembled, through the
+dangers which encompassed them.  Oh that they might be wise as
+serpents and harmless as doves!  Might they for ever cleave to the
+faith once delivered to the saints!  Might they never be led astray
+to doubt the efficacy of the Blood of the Atonement once offered by
+the Son of God!  Might they, through their Saviour's merits, secure
+at last an entrance into those mansions where all the saints of God,
+those faithful souls whom He had elected as His own, of His own
+eternal foreknowledge, would abide for ever, in full fruition of the
+joys promised in His Word.
+
+The prayer over, Mr. Broad rose and said that he was there that night
+to discharge a most painful duty--one which, if he had taken counsel
+with flesh and blood, he would most gladly have avoided.  But he was
+a humble servant of their common Lord and Master.  It behoved him to
+cease not to warn every one night and day; to remember that the Holy
+Ghost had made him an overseer to feed the church of God which He had
+purchased with His precious blood.  He had done nothing in this
+matter without constant recurrence to the footstool of grace, and he
+had also consulted with some of his dear brethren in Christ whom he
+saw near him.  They would have observed that Brother Allen and his
+family had for some time absented themselves from the means of grace.
+He should have said nothing upon this point if they had joined any
+other Christian community.  If even they had attended the Established
+Church, he would have been silent, for he was free to confess that in
+other religious bodies besides their own God had faithful servants
+who held fast to the fundamental doctrines of His book.  But it was
+notorious, alas! that his dear brother had gone NOWHERE!  In the face
+of the apostolic command not to forsake the assembling of themselves
+together, what could they do but suspect that his dear brother's
+belief had been undermined--sapped, he would say?  But to that point
+he would return presently.  Then, again, they were all familiar with
+the circumstances attending the late political contest in the county.
+He knew that many of his dear brethren differed one from another
+concerning matters relating to this world, although they were all,
+blessed be God, one in Christ, members of His body.  He himself had
+thought it better to follow as far as he could, the example of his
+Lord and Master to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
+and to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
+He would not for a moment, however, condemn any who differed from him
+in carnal policy.  But his dear Brother Allen and his son had
+overstepped the line; and, considering this was a mixed church, he
+was of opinion that they should have acted--what should he say?--with
+more Christian consideration.  More than this, Mr. George Allen was
+known to have abetted an unruly mob, a position highly unbecoming, he
+might say, to one occupying the position of member at Tanner's Lane.
+But he might, perhaps, be permitted to dwell for a moment on another
+point.  His dear Brother Allen and his son had--there was no doubt of
+it--consorted with infidels, one of whom had been convicted by the
+laws of his country--a convict--and it was through their
+instrumentality that his brethren had been led to wander from the
+fold.  This was the secret of the calamity which had overtaken the
+church.  Wolves, he would say--yes, wolves, grievous wolves--had
+entered in, not sparing the flock.  Let them consider what an Infidel
+was!  It meant a man who denied his Maker, Revelation, a life beyond
+the grave, and who made awful jests upon the Holy Scriptures!  He had
+evidence that in this miserable household there was a portrait of
+that dreadful blasphemer Voltaire, who on his deathbed cried out in
+vain for that salvation which he had so impiously refused, and amidst
+shrieks of--despair, which chilled with terror those who stood by
+him, was carried off by the Enemy of Souls to the lake that burneth
+with brimstone, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not
+quenched.--(Sensation.)  (This was a famous paragraph in one of Mr.
+Broad's sermons preached on great occasions, and particularly when he
+supplied a metropolitan pulpit.  The story had been contradicted
+twice in the county paper by a Frenchman, a retired teacher of his
+native language, who had somehow heard of the insult offered to his
+great countryman, and a copy of the contradiction had been sent to
+Mr. Broad.  He was content with observing that its author was a
+Frenchman, and therefore probably an atheist, "with no consciousness
+of moral obligation."  Voltaire's diabolic disappearance continued,
+therefore, to be one of Mr. Broad's most striking effects.)--This was
+a subject of great delicacy.  They knew how closely related he was to
+Brother Allen through that dear saint now in glory.  He did not--he
+could not--(Mr. Broad seemed to be affected)--allude in any detail to
+what had happened; but still it was his duty to point out that Mr.
+George Allen had been in constant intercourse with a female in an
+infidel family--yes, before his wife's death he had been seen with
+her ALONE!  ALONE with an infidel female!  He only hoped that the
+knowledge of this fact did not accelerate the departure of his
+blessed daughter--daughter in the flesh and daughter in Christ.  He
+could not measure the extent of that intercourse; the Searcher of
+hearts alone could do that, save the parties concerned; but, of
+course, as she was an unbeliever, they must fear the worst.  For
+himself, he had felt that this was the root of everything.  They
+would judge for themselves how fervently he must have appealed to the
+Mercy-seat, considering his position and relationship with his dear
+brother, before he had seen his way to take the present course; but
+at last God had revealed Himself to him, and he now committed the
+case to them.  Might God have mercy on them, and His Spirit lead
+them.
+
+Mr. Allen and George had scarcely restrained themselves, and George,
+notwithstanding his father's injunction, leapt up before the
+concluding sentences were out of Mr. Broad's mouth.  Mr. Scotton,
+however, rose, and Mr. Allen pulled George down.  Mr. Scotton wished
+to say just one word.  They could not, he was sure, overestimate the
+gravity of the situation.  They were called together upon a most
+solemn occasion.  Their worthy pastor had spoken as a minister of the
+gospel.  He, Mr. Scotton, as a layman, wished just to remind them
+that they were exercising judicial functions--(Brother Bushel
+fidgeted and got very red)--and that it was necessary they should
+proceed in proper order.  With regard to two of the charges, the
+evidence was fully before them; that is to say, absence from public
+worship and what might perhaps be thought want of consideration for
+the peace of the church.--("Praps," grunted Bushel--"praps indeed.")-
+-But with regard to the third charge, the evidence was NOT before
+them, and as this was the most important of the three he would
+suggest before going any farther that they should hear what Mr. Broad
+could produce.
+
+Brother Bushel objected.  It was very seldom indeed that he offered
+any remarks in public; but this time he could not refrain, and
+introduced himself as follows:
+
+"Brother Scotton says 'praps.'  I don't say 'praps,' when people go
+settin' class agin class.  Praps nobody's windows was broke!
+Evidence!  Hasn't our minister told us George Allen has been to
+London?  He wouldn't tell us an untruth.  Due respec', Brother
+Scotton--no lawyering--none of that--of them functions--'specially
+when it's infidels and ricks may be afire--aught I know."
+
+Mr. Broad interposed.  He quite understood Brother Bushel's ardour
+for the truth, but he was prepared to produce some simple
+corroboration of what he had affirmed, which would, he thought,
+satisfy Brother Scotton and the brethren generally.  "Thomas," quoth
+Mr. Broad, "will you please step forward and say what you know?"
+
+Mr. Thomas thereupon advanced to the table, and said it would ill
+become him to expatiate on the present occasion.  He would confine
+himself to obeying the mandate of his father.  He then reported that
+he had been led to visit the Colemans at first as friends of the
+Allens, and not knowing their devilish tendencies.  God had, however,
+he hoped, mercifully protected him.  If it had not been for God's
+grace, where might he not have been that day?  It was true that they
+were disciples of the French sceptic; his likeness was on the walls;
+his books were on the bookshelves!  Mr. George Allen had been in the
+habit of associating not only with Mr. Coleman, but with the
+daughter, and with the daughter ALONE! as has already been stated.
+She was also an infidel--more so, perhaps, than her father; and Satan
+had a way, as they all knew, of instilling the deadly poison so
+seductively that unwary souls were often lost, lost, lost beyond
+recall, before they could truly be said to be aware of it.  He
+wished, therefore, that evening to confess again, as, indeed, he had
+just confessed before, that by grace he had been saved.  It is not of
+him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
+mercy.  He trembled to think how near he himself had been to the pit
+of destruction, lured by the devices of the great Enemy of Souls; but
+praise be to God he had been saved, not through own merits, but
+through the merits of his Redeemer.
+
+Mr. Broad purred with pleasure during this oration, and looked round
+on the audience for their approval.  Mr. Allen was now completely
+quieted.  The speech had acted like a charm.  He rose immediately.
+
+"Mr. Broad," he said deliberately, but with much emphasis--you might
+have heard a pin drop--"the value of the testimony just given depends
+upon character of the witness.  May I ask him to explain HOW HE CAME
+BY THAT SCAR ON THE BACK OF HIS HAND?"
+
+Mr. Allen remained standing.  There was no sign of an answer.  He sat
+down for a moment but still there was no movement.  He rose again.
+
+"Mr. Broad, as there is no reply, will you permit me to give the
+explanation?"
+
+Mr. Thomas Broad then slowly erected himself near the table at which
+his father was sitting.  He held on by it hard, and gulped down half
+a glass of water which was there.  His tallowy face looked more
+tallowy than ever, and his voice shook most unpleasantly as he was
+just heard to say that he did not know with what object the question
+was put--that it--that it--seemed--seemed irrel--irrelev--and these
+were the last syllables ever heard from the lips of Mr. Thomas in
+Tanner's Lane, for he dropped into his seat and apparently fainted.
+There was great confusion while his recovery was attempted.  He was
+conveyed into the chapel, more water was given him, smelling-salts
+applied, and in due time he regained his senses; but his father, on
+his return to the vestry, announced that after what had happened the
+meeting had perhaps better be adjourned.  He felt it impossible to go
+any further just then.  Tanner's Lane Church, therefore, departed,
+much musing, and was never again summoned on that business.  Mr.
+Allen had some thoughts of demanding another meeting and a formal
+acquittal, but the pastor was suddenly struck with paralysis, and
+although he lingered for nearly two years, he preached no more.  So
+it came to pass that George and his father are on the church books
+till this day.  There was, of course, endless gossip as to the
+meaning of Mr. Allen's appeal.  Whether George ever knew what it was
+is more than I can say, but it is certain that Cowfold never knew.
+Mr. Allen always resolutely repelled all questions, saying that it
+would be time enough to go further when he was next attacked.  The
+Broads, mother and daughter, asserted that no doubt Thomas had a mark
+upon the back of his hand, but that it had been caused by a nail in a
+fence, and that he had fainted through indisposition.  This theory,
+however, was obviously ridiculous, for Mr. Allen's reference had no
+meaning if Thomas had met with a simple accident.  Mrs. Broad saw
+that her son's explanation, greatly as she trusted him, was weak, and
+at last Thomas, with Christian compunction, admitted that the fence
+was the palings of the College garden, over which he had once
+clambered when he was too late for admittance at the College gates.
+This was true.  Mr. Thomas on the very evening of his interview with
+Pauline, had obtained admission over the palings, had been detected,
+and there had been an inquiry by the authorities; but the scar, as we
+know, had another origin.  Mrs. Broad was compelled to circulate this
+story, and accompanied it with many apologies and much regret.  It
+was the sorrow of her life, she said; but, at the same time, she must
+add that her son was delayed by no fault of his.  The President had
+investigated the matter, and had contended himself with a reprimand.
+Her friends would understand that Thomas would prefer, under the
+circumstances, not to visit Cowfold again, and considering her dear
+husband's sickness, she could not advise that prosecution of the
+Allens should be pressed.
+
+Cowfold, however, was not satisfied.  Mr. Allen would not, as a man
+of the world, have thought so much of such an indiscretion.  Why was
+Mr. Thomas late?  Cowfold could not endure simple suspense of
+judgment.  Any theory, however wild, is more tolerable than a
+confession that the facts are not sufficient for a decision, and the
+common opinion, corroborated, it was declared, by surest testimony,
+was that Mr. Thomas had been to the theatre.  There was not a tittle
+of evidence to support this story, but everybody was certain it was
+true.  Everybody repeated it, and constant repetition will harden the
+loosest hearsay into a creed far more unshakable than faith in the
+law of gravity.
+
+Just before Mr. Broad's last illness, the secession of the Allens was
+imitated by about twenty of the younger members of the congregation,
+who met together on Sunday, under Mr. Allen's guidance, and
+worshipped by themselves, each of them in turn making some attempt at
+an exposition of the Bible and a short address.  By the time Mr.
+Broad died Tanner's Lane had sunk very low; but when his successor
+was chosen the seceders exercised their rights, and were strong
+enough to elect a student fresh from college, who had taken an M.A.
+degree at the University of London.  He preached his first sermon
+from the text, "I am crucified with Christ," and told his hearers,
+with fluent self-confidence, that salvation meant perfect sympathy
+with Christ--"Not I, but Christ liveth in me;" that the office of
+Christ was not to reconcile God to man, but man to God; and this is
+effected in proportion as Christ dwells in us, bringing us more and
+more into harmony with the Divine.  The Atonement is indeed the
+central doctrine, the pivot of Christianity, but it is an atONEment,
+a making of one mind.  To which Tanner's Lane listened with much
+wonderment and not without uncomfortable mental disturbance, the
+elder members complaining particularly that this was not the simple
+gospel, and that the trumpet gave an uncertain sound.  But opposition
+gradually died out; the meeting-house was rebuilt, and called Latimer
+Chapel.  The afternoon service was dropped and turned into a service
+for the Sunday-school children; an organ was bought and a choir
+trained; the minister gave week-day lectures on secular subjects, and
+became a trustee of the Cowfold charity schools, recently enlarged
+under a new scheme.  He brought home a wife one day who could read
+German; joined the County Archaeological Society, and wrote a paper
+on the discoveries made when the railway station was built on what
+was supposed to be an ancient British encampment.  For Cowfold was to
+become an important junction on the new line to the north, and Mr.
+Bushel's death had been accelerated by vexation through seeing a
+survey carried across his own fields.
+
+As for Mrs. Broad and Tryphosa, they left Cowfold and went into
+Lancashire, to be near uncle Flavel.  George, notwithstanding the new
+doctrine in Latimer Chapel and the improvement in the Cowfold
+atmosphere, was restless, and before the revolution just described
+was completed, had been entirely overcome with a desire to emigrate
+with his child.  His father and mother not only did not oppose, but
+decided to accompany.  Mr. Allen had saved money, and though he and
+his wife were getting on in years, there was nothing in either of
+them of that subsidence into indifferent sloth which is the great
+mistake of advancing age.  Both were keen in their desire to know the
+last new thing, eager to recognise the last new truth, forgetful of
+the past, dwelling in the present, and, consequently, they remained
+young.  They were younger, at any rate, just now than George; and it
+was his, not exactly melancholy, but lack of zest for life, which
+mainly induced them so readily to assent to his plans.  One bright
+June morning, therefore, saw them, with their children, on the deck
+of the Liverpool vessel which was to take them to America.  Oh day of
+days, when after years of limitation, monotony, and embarrassment, we
+see it all behind us, and face a new future with an illimitable
+prospect!  George once more felt his bosom's lord sit lightly on his
+throne; once more felt that the sunlight and blue sky were able to
+cheer him.  So they went away to the West, and we take leave of them.
+
+What became of Zachariah and Pauline?  At present I do not know.
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+{132}  "O ze (ye) my feris (companions) and deir freyndis, quod he,
+Of bywent perillis not ignorant ben we,
+Ze have sustenit gretir dangeris unkend,
+Like as hereof God sall make sone ane end:
+The rage of Silla, that huge sweste (whirlpool) in the se
+Ze have eschapit and passit eik (each) have ze:
+The euer (pot) routand (roaring) Caribdis rokkis fell
+The craggis quhare monstruous Cyclopes dwell:
+Ze are expert:  pluk up zour harts, I zou pray,
+This dolorous drede expell and do away.
+Sum tyme thereon to think may help perchance."
+--Gawin Douglas.
+
+"Endure and conquer!  Jove will soon dispose,
+To future good, our past and present woes.
+With me, the rocks of Scylla you have tried;
+Th' inhuman Cyclops, and his den defied.
+What greater ills hereafter can you bear!
+Resume your courage, and dismiss your care.
+An hour will come, with pleasure to relate
+Your sorrows past, as benefits of fate."
+- Dryden.
+
+
+
+
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+<a href="#startoftext">The Revolution in Tanner's Lane, by Mark Rutherford</a>
+</h2>
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+Title: The Revolution in Tanner's Lane
+
+Author: Mark Rutherford
+
+Release Date: October, 2004  [EBook #6690]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on January 12, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+</pre>
+<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p>
+<p>Transcribed from the 1913 Hodder and Stoughton edition by David Price,
+email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<h1>THE REVOLUTION IN TANNER&rsquo;S LANE</h1>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Per various casus, per tot discrimina rerum,<br />Tendimus
+in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas<br />Ostendunt.&nbsp; Illic fas regna
+resurgere Troj&aelig;.<br />Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis.&rdquo;<br />-
+<i>Virgil</i>.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;By diuers casis, sere parrellis and sufferance<br />Unto Itaill
+we ettill (aim) quhare destanye<br />Has schap (shaped) for vs ane rest
+and quiet harbrye<br />Predestinatis thare Troye sall ryse agane.<br />Be
+stout on prosper fortoun to remane.&rdquo;<br />- <i>Gwain Douglas&rsquo;s
+translation</i>.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER I - THE WORLD OUTSIDE</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>The 20th April 1814, an almost cloudless, perfectly sunny day, saw
+all London astir.&nbsp; On that day Lewis the Eighteenth was to come
+from Hartwell in triumph, summoned by France to the throne of his ancestors.&nbsp;
+London had not enjoyed too much gaiety that year.&nbsp; It was the year
+of the great frost.&nbsp; Nothing like it had been known in the memory
+of man.&nbsp; In the West of England, where snow is rare, roads were
+impassable and mails could not be delivered.&nbsp; Four dead men were
+dug out of a deep drift about ten miles west of Exeter.&nbsp; Even at
+Plymouth, close to the soft south-western ocean, the average depth of
+the fall was twenty inches, and there was no other way of getting eastwards
+than by pack-horses.&nbsp; The Great North Road was completely blocked,
+and there was a barricade over it near Godmanchester of from six to
+ten feet high.&nbsp; The Oxford coach was buried.&nbsp; Some passengers
+inside were rescued with great difficulty, and their lives were barely
+saved.&nbsp; The Solway Firth at Workington resembled the Arctic Sea,
+and the Thames was so completely frozen over between Blackfriars and
+London Bridges that people were able, not only to walk across, but to
+erect booths on the ice.&nbsp; Coals, of course, rose to famine prices
+in London, as it was then dependent solely upon water-carriage for its
+supply.&nbsp; The Father of his people, the Prince Regent, was much
+moved by the general distress of &ldquo;a large and meritorious class
+of industrious persons,&rdquo; as he called them, and issued a circular
+to all Lords Lieutenant ordering them to provide all practicable means
+of removing obstructions from the highways.</p>
+<p>However, on this 20th April the London mob forgot the frost, forgot
+the quartern loaf and the national debt, and prepared for a holiday,
+inspired thereto, not so much by Lewis the Eighteenth as by the warmth
+and brilliant sky.&nbsp; There are two factors in all human bliss -
+an object and the subject.&nbsp; The object may be a trifle, but the
+condition of the subject is most important.&nbsp; Turn a man out with
+his digestion in perfect order, with the spring in the air and in his
+veins, and he will cheer anything, any Lewis, Lord Liverpool, dog, cat,
+or rat who may cross his path.&nbsp; Not that this is intended as a
+sufficient explanation of the Bourbon reception.&nbsp; Far from it;
+but it does mitigate it a trifle.&nbsp; At eleven o&rsquo;clock in the
+forenoon two troops of the Oxford Blues drew up at Kilburn turnpike
+to await the sacred arrival.&nbsp; The Prince Regent himself went as
+far as Stanmore to meet his August Brother.&nbsp; When the August Brother
+reached the village, the excited inhabitants thereof took the horses
+out of the carriage and drew him through the street.&nbsp; The Prince,
+standing at the door of the principal inn, was in readiness to salute
+him, and this he did by embracing him!&nbsp; There have been some remarkable
+embraces in history.&nbsp; Joseph fell on Israel&rsquo;s neck, and Israel
+said unto Joseph, &ldquo;Now let me die, since I have seen thy face:&rdquo;
+Paul, after preaching at Ephesus, calling the elders of the Church to
+witness that, for the space of three years, he ceased not to warn every
+one night and day with tears, kneeled down and prayed, so that they
+all wept sore and fell on his neck: Romeo took a last embrace of Juliet
+in the vault, and sealed the doors of breath with a righteous kiss:
+Penelope embraced Ulysses, who was welcome to her as land is welcome
+to shipwrecked swimmers escaping from the grey seawater - there have,
+we say, been some remarkable embraces on this earth since time began,
+but none more remarkable than that on the steps of the Abercorn Arms.&nbsp;
+The Divine couple then drove in solemn procession to town.&nbsp; From
+the park corner for three-quarters of a mile or so was a line of private
+carriages, filled with most fashionable people, the ladies all standing
+on the seats.&nbsp; The French Royalist flag waved everywhere.&nbsp;
+All along the Kilburn Road, then thinly lined with houses, it was triumphant,
+and even the trees were decorated with it.&nbsp; Arriving by way of
+Cumberland Gate at Piccadilly, Lewis was escorted, amidst uproarious
+rejoicing, to Grillon&rsquo;s Hotel in Albemarle Street.&nbsp; There,
+in reply to an address from the Prince, he &ldquo;ascribed, under Providence,&rdquo;
+to his Royal Highness and the British people his present blissful condition;
+and soon afterwards, being extremely tired, went to bed.&nbsp; This
+was on a Wednesday.&nbsp; The next day, Thursday, His Sacred Majesty,
+or Most Christian Majesty, as he was then called, was solemnly made
+a Knight of the Garter, the Bishops of Salisbury and Winchester assisting.&nbsp;
+On Friday he received the corporation of London, and on Saturday the
+23rd he prepared to take his departure.&nbsp; There was a great crowd
+in the street when he came out of the hotel and immense applause; the
+mob crying out, &ldquo;God bless your Majesty!&rdquo; as if they owed
+him all they had, and even their lives.&nbsp; It was very touching,
+people thought at the time, and so it was.&nbsp; Is there anything more
+touching than the waste of human loyalty and love?&nbsp; As we read
+the history of the Highlands or a story of Jacobite loyalty such as
+that of Cooper&rsquo;s Admiral Bluewater, dear to boys, we sadden that
+destiny should decree that in a world in which piety is not too plentiful
+it should run so pitifully to waste, and that men and women should weep
+hot tears and break their hearts over bran-stuffing and wax.</p>
+<p>Amidst the hooraying multitude that Saturday April morning was one
+man at least, Zachariah Coleman by name, who did not hooray, and did
+not lift his hat even when the Sacred Majesty appeared on the hotel
+steps.&nbsp; He was a smallish, thin-faced, lean creature in workman&rsquo;s
+clothes; his complexion was white, blanched by office air, and his hands
+were black with printer&rsquo;s ink.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Off with your tile, you b---y Corsican!&rdquo; exclaimed a
+roaring voice behind him.&nbsp; Zachariah turned round, and found the
+request came from a drayman weighing about eighteen stone; but the tile
+was not removed.&nbsp; In an instant it was sent flying to the other
+side of the road, where it was trodden on, picked up, and passed forward
+in the air amidst laughter and jeers, till it was finally lost.</p>
+<p>Zachariah was not pugnacious, and could not very well be so in the
+presence of his huge antagonist; but he was no coward, and not seeing
+for the moment that his hat had hopelessly gone, he turned round savagely,
+and laying hold of the drayman, said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You ruffian, give it me back; if I am a Corsican, are you
+an Englishman?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take that for your b---y beaver,&rdquo; said the other, and
+dealt him a blow with the fist right in his face, which staggered and
+stupefied him, covering him with blood.</p>
+<p>The bystanders, observing the disparity between the two men, instantly
+took Zachariah&rsquo;s side, and called out &ldquo;Shame, shame!&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Nor did they confine themselves to ejaculations, for a young fellow
+of about eight and twenty, well dressed, with a bottle-green coat of
+broadcloth, buttoned close, stepped up to the drayman.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Knock my tile off, beer-barrel.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The drayman instantly responded by a clutch at it, but before he
+could touch it he had an awful cut across the lips, delivered with such
+scientific accuracy from the left shoulder that it was clear it came
+from a disciple of Jackson or Tom Cribb.&nbsp; The crowd now became
+intensely delighted and excited, and a cry of &ldquo;A ring, a ring!&rdquo;
+was raised.&nbsp; The drayman, blind with rage, let out with his right
+arm with force enough to fell an ox, but the stroke was most artistically
+parried, and the response was another fearful gash over the right eye.&nbsp;
+By this time the patriot had had enough, and declined to continue the
+contest.&nbsp; His foe, too, seemed to have no desire for any further
+display of his powers, and retired smilingly, edging his way to the
+pavement, where he found poor Zachariah almost helpless.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Holloa, my republican friend, d---n it, that&rsquo;s a nasty
+lick you&rsquo;ve got, and from one of the people too; that makes it
+harder to bear, eh?&nbsp; Never mind, he&rsquo;s worse off than you
+are.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah thanked him as well as he could for defending him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not a word; haven&rsquo;t got a scratch myself.&nbsp; Come
+along with me;&rdquo; and he dragged him along Piccadilly into a public-house
+in Swallow Street, where apparently he was well known.&nbsp; Water was
+called for; Zachariah was sponged, the wound strapped up, some brandy
+given him, and the stranger, ordering a hackney coach, told the driver
+to take the gentleman home.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wait a bit,&rdquo; he called, as the coach drove off.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;You may feel faint; I&rsquo;ll go home with you,&rdquo; and in
+a moment he was by Zachariah&rsquo;s side.&nbsp; The coach found its
+way slowly through the streets to some lodgings in Clerkenwell.&nbsp;
+It was well the stranger did go, for his companion on arrival was hardly
+able to crawl upstairs to give a coherent account to his wife of what
+had happened.</p>
+<p>Zachariah Coleman, working man, printer, was in April 1814 about
+thirty years old.&nbsp; He was employed in a jobbing office in the city,
+where he was compositor and pressman as well.&nbsp; He had been married
+in January 1814 to a woman a year younger than himself, who attended
+the meeting-house at Hackney, whither he went on the Sunday.&nbsp; He
+was a Dissenter in religion, and a fierce Radical in politics, as many
+of the Dissenters in that day were.&nbsp; He was not a ranter or revivalist,
+but what was called a moderate Calvinist; that is to say, he held to
+Calvinism as his undoubted creed, but when it came to the push in actual
+practice he modified it.&nbsp; In this respect he was inconsistent;
+but who is there who is not?&nbsp; His theology probably had no more
+gaps in it than that of the latest and most enlightened preacher who
+denies miracles and affirms the Universal Benevolence.&nbsp; His present
+biographer, from intimate acquaintance with the class to which Zachariah
+belonged, takes this opportunity to protest against the general assumption
+that the Calvinists of that day, or of any day, arrived at their belief
+by putting out their eyes and accepting blindly the authority of St.
+Paul or anybody else.&nbsp; It may be questioned, indeed, whether any
+religious body has ever stood so distinctly upon the understanding and
+has used its intellect with such rigorous activity, as the Puritans,
+from whom Zachariah was a genuine descendant.&nbsp; Even if Calvinism
+had been carved on tables of stone and handed down from heaven by the
+Almighty Hand, it would not have lived if it had not have found to agree
+more or less with the facts, and it was because it was a deduction from
+what nobody can help seeing that it was so vital, the Epistle to the
+Romans serving as the inspired confirmation of an experience.&nbsp;
+Zachariah was a great reader of all kinds of books - a lover especially
+of Bunyan and Milton; as logical in his politics as in his religion;
+and he defended the execution of Charles the First on the ground that
+the people had just as much right to put a king to death as a judge
+had to order the execution of any other criminal.</p>
+<p>The courtship between Zachariah and the lady who became his wife
+had been short, for there could be no mistake, as they had known one
+another so long.&nbsp; She was black-haired, with a perfectly oval face,
+always dressed with the most scrupulous neatness, and with a certain
+plain tightness which Zachariah admired.&nbsp; She had exquisitely white
+and perfect teeth, a pale, clear complexion, and the reputation of being
+a most sensible woman.&nbsp; She was not a beauty, but she was good-looking;
+the weak points in her face being her eyes, which were mere inexpressive
+optic organs, and her mouth, which, when shut, seemed too much shut,
+just as if it were compressed by an effort of the will or by a spring.&nbsp;
+These, however, Zachariah thought minor matters, if, indeed, he ever
+noticed them.&nbsp; &ldquo;The great thing was, that she was&rdquo;
+- sometimes this and sometimes that - and so it was settled.&nbsp; Unfortunately
+in marriage it is so difficult to be sure of what the great thing is,
+and what the little thing is, the little thing becoming so frightfully
+big afterwards!&nbsp; Theologically, Mrs. Zachariah was as strict as
+her husband, and more so, as far as outward observance went, for her
+strictness was not tempered by those secular interests which to him
+were so dear.&nbsp; She read little or nothing - nothing, indeed, on
+week-days, and even the <i>Morning Chronicle</i>, which Zachariah occasionally
+borrowed, was folded up when he had done with it and put under the tea-caddy
+till it was returned.&nbsp; On Sundays she took up a book in the afternoon,
+but she carefully prepared herself for the operation as though it were
+a sacramental service.&nbsp; When the dinner-things were washed up,
+when the hearth was swept and the kettle on the fire, having put on
+her best Sunday dress, it was her custom to go to the window, always
+to the window, never to the fire - where she would open Boston&rsquo;s
+<i>Fourfold State</i> and hold it up in front of her with both hands.&nbsp;
+This, however, did not last long, for on the arrival of the milkman
+the volume was replaced, and it was necessary to make preparations for
+tea.</p>
+<p>The hackney coach drove up to the house in Rosoman Street where Zachariah
+dwelt on the first floor.&nbsp; He was too weak to go upstairs by himself,
+and he and his friend therefore walked into the front room together.&nbsp;
+It was in complete order, although it was so early in the morning.&nbsp;
+Everything was dusted; even the lower fire-bar had not a speck of ashes
+on it, and on the hob already was a saucepan in which Mrs. Coleman proposed
+to cook the one o&rsquo;clock dinner.&nbsp; On the walls were portraits
+of Sir Francis Burdett, Major Cartwright, and the mezzotint engraving
+of Sadler&rsquo;s Bunyan.&nbsp; Two black silhouettes - one of Zachariah
+and the other of his wife - were suspended on each side of the mantelpiece.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Coleman was busily engaged in the bedroom, but hearing the footsteps,
+she immediately entered.&nbsp; She was slightly taken aback at seeing
+Zachariah in such a plight, and uttered a little scream, but the bottle-green
+stranger, making her a profound bow, arrested her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Pardon me, my dear madam, there is nothing seriously the matter.&nbsp;
+Your husband has had the misfortune to be the victim of a most blackguardly
+assault; but I am sure that, under your care, he will be all right in
+a day or two; and, with your permission, I take my leave.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Coleman was irritated.&nbsp; The first emotion was not sympathy.&nbsp;
+Absolutely the first was annoyance at being seen without proper notice
+by such a fine-looking gentleman.&nbsp; She had, however, no real cause
+for vexation under this head.&nbsp; She had tied a white handkerchief
+over her hair, fastening it under her chin, as her manner was when doing
+her morning&rsquo;s work, and she had on her white apron; but she was
+trim and faultless, and the white handkerchief did but set off her black
+hair and marble complexion.&nbsp; Her second emotion, too, was not sympathy.&nbsp;
+Zachariah was at home at the wrong time.&nbsp; Her ordinary household
+arrangements were upset.&nbsp; He might possibly be ill, and then there
+would be a mess and confusion.&nbsp; The thought of sickness was intolerable
+to her, because it &ldquo;put everything out.&rdquo;&nbsp; Rising up
+at the back of these two emotions came, haltingly, a third when she
+looked her husband in the face.&nbsp; She could not help it, and she
+did really pity him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am sure it is very kind of you,&rdquo; she replied.</p>
+<p>Zachariah had as yet spoken no word, nor had she moved towards him.&nbsp;
+The stranger was departing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Stop!&rdquo; cried Zachariah, &ldquo;you have not told me
+your name.&nbsp; I am too faint to say how much I owe you for your protection
+and kindness.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nonsense.&nbsp; My name is Maitland - Major Maitland, 1A Albany.&nbsp;
+Good-bye.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was at the top of the stairs, when he turned round, and looking
+at Mrs. Coleman, observed musingly, &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ll send my
+doctor, and, if you will permit me, will call in a day or two.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She thanked him; he took her hand, politely pressed it to his lips,
+and rode off in the coach which had been waiting for him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What has happened, my dear?&nbsp; Tell me all about it,&rdquo;
+she inquired as she went back into the parlour, with just the least
+colour on her cheek, and perceptibly a little happier than she was five
+minutes before.&nbsp; She did nothing more than put her hand on his
+shoulder, but he brightened immediately.&nbsp; He told her the tale,
+and when it was over desired to lie down and to have some tea.</p>
+<p>Emotion number two returned to Mrs. Coleman immediately.&nbsp; Tea
+at that time, the things having been all cleared away and washed up!&nbsp;
+She did not, however, like openly to object, but she did go so far as
+to suggest that perhaps cold water would be better, as there might be
+inflammation.&nbsp; Zachariah, although he was accustomed to give way,
+begged for tea; and it was made ready, but not with water boiled there.&nbsp;
+She would not again put the copper kettle on the fire, as it was just
+cleaned, but she asked to be allowed to use that which belonged to the
+neighbour downstairs who kept the shop.&nbsp; The tea-things were replaced
+when Zachariah had finished, and his wife returned to her duties, leaving
+him sitting in the straight-backed Windsor-chair, looking into the grate
+and feeling very miserable.</p>
+<p>In the afternoon Rosoman Street was startled to see a grand carriage
+stop at Zachariah&rsquo;s door, and out stepped the grand doctor, who,
+after some little hesitation and inquiry, made his way upstairs.&nbsp;
+Having examined our friend, he pronounced him free from all mortal or
+even serious injury - it was a case of contusion and shaken nerves,
+which required a little alterative medicine, and on the day after to-morrow
+the patient, although bruised and sore in the mouth, might go back to
+work.</p>
+<p>The next morning he was better, but nevertheless he was depressed.&nbsp;
+It was now three months since his wedding-day, and the pomp and beauty
+of the sunrise, gold and scarlet bars with intermediate lakes of softest
+blue, had been obscured by leaden clouds, which showed no break and
+let loose a cold drizzling rain.&nbsp; How was it?&nbsp; He often asked
+himself that question, but could obtain no satisfactory answer.&nbsp;
+Had anything changed?&nbsp; Was his wife anything which he did not know
+her to be three months ago?&nbsp; Certainly not.&nbsp; He could not
+accuse her of passing herself off upon him with false pretences.&nbsp;
+What she had always represented herself to be she was now.&nbsp; There
+she stood precisely as she stood twelve months ago, when he asked her
+to become his wife, and he thought when she said &ldquo;yes&rdquo; that
+no man was more blessed than he.&nbsp; It was, he feared, true he did
+not love her, nor she him; but why could not they have found that out
+before?&nbsp; What a cruel destiny was this which drew a veil before
+his eyes and led him blindfold over the precipice!&nbsp; He at first
+thought, when his joy began to ebb in February or March, that it would
+rise again, and that he would see matters in a different light; but
+the spring was here, and the tide had not turned.&nbsp; It never would
+turn now, and he became at last aware of the sad truth - the saddest
+a man can know - that he had missed the great delight of existence.&nbsp;
+His chance had come, and had gone.&nbsp; Henceforth all that was said
+and sung about love and home would find no echo in him.&nbsp; He was
+paralysed, dead in half of his soul, and would have to exist with the
+other half as well he could.&nbsp; He had done no wrong: he had done
+his best; he had not sold himself to the flesh or the devil, and, Calvinist
+as he was, he was tempted at times to question the justice of such a
+punishment.&nbsp; If he put his finger in the fire and got burnt, he
+was able to bow to the wisdom which taught him in that plain way that
+he was not to put his finger in the fire.&nbsp; But wherein lay the
+beneficence of visiting a simple mistake - one which he could not avoid
+- with a curse worse than the Jewish curse of excommunication - &ldquo;the
+anathema wherewith Joshua cursed Jericho; the curse which Elisha laid
+upon the children; all the curses which are written in the law.&nbsp;
+Cursed be he by day, and cursed be he by night: cursed be he in sleeping,
+and cursed be he in waking: cursed in going out, and cursed in coming
+in.&rdquo;&nbsp; Neither the wretched victim nor the world at large
+was any better for such a visitation, for it was neither remedial nor
+monitory.&nbsp; Ah, so it is!&nbsp; The murderer is hung at Newgate,
+and if he himself is not improved by the process, perhaps a few wicked
+people are frightened; but men and women are put to a worse death every
+day by slow strangulation which endures for a lifetime, and, as far
+as we can see, no lesson is learned by anybody, and no good is done.</p>
+<p>Zachariah, however, did not give way to despair, for he was not a
+man to despair.&nbsp; His religion was a part of himself.&nbsp; He had
+immortality before him, in which he thanked God there was no marrying
+nor giving in marriage.&nbsp; This doctrine, however, did not live in
+him as the other dogmas of his creed, for it was not one in which his
+intellect had such a share.&nbsp; On the other hand, predestination
+was dear to him.&nbsp; God knew him as closely as He knew the angel
+next His throne, and had marked out his course with as much concern
+as that of the seraph.&nbsp; What God&rsquo;s purposes were he did not
+know.&nbsp; He took a sort of sullen pride in not knowing, and he marched
+along, footsore and wounded, in obedience to the orders of his great
+Chief.&nbsp; Only thirty years old, and only three months a husband,
+he had already learned renunciation.&nbsp; There was to be no joy in
+life?&nbsp; Then he would be satisfied if it were tolerable, and he
+strove to dismiss all his dreams and do his best with what lay before
+him.&nbsp; Oh my hero!&nbsp; Perhaps somewhere or other - let us hope
+it is true - a book is kept in which human worth is duly appraised,
+and in that book, if such a volume there be, we shall find that the
+divinest heroism is not that of the man who, holding life cheap, puts
+his back against a wall, and is shot by Government soldiers, assured
+that he will live ever afterwards as a martyr and saint: a diviner heroism
+is that of the poor printer, who, in dingy, smoky Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell,
+with forty years before him, determined to live through them, as far
+as he could, without a murmur, although there was to be no pleasure
+in them.&nbsp; A diviner heroism is this, but divinest of all, is that
+of him who can in these days do what Zachariah did, and without Zachariah&rsquo;s
+faith.</p>
+<p>The next evening, just as Zachariah and his wife were sitting down
+to tea, there was a tap at the door, and in walked Major Maitland.&nbsp;
+He was now in full afternoon costume, and, if not dandyish, was undeniably
+well dressed.&nbsp; Making a profound bow to Mrs. Coleman, he advanced
+to the fireplace and instantly shook hands with Zachariah.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, my republican, you are better, although the beery loyalist
+has left his mark upon you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly, much better; but where I should have been, sir,
+if it had not been for you, I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, well; it was an absolute pleasure to me to teach the blackguard
+that cheering a Bourbon costs something.&nbsp; My God, though, a man
+must be a fool who has to be taught that!&nbsp; I wonder what it <i>has</i>
+cost us.&nbsp; Why, I see you&rsquo;ve got my friend, Major Cartwright,
+up there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah and his wife started a moment at what they considered the
+profane introduction of God&rsquo;s name; but it was not exactly swearing,
+and Major Maitland&rsquo;s relationship to them was remarkable.&nbsp;
+They were therefore silent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A true friend of the people,&rdquo; continued Maitland, &ldquo;is
+Major Cartwright; but he does not go quite far enough to please me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;As for the people so-called,&rdquo; quoth Zachariah, &ldquo;I
+doubt whether they are worth saving.&nbsp; Look at the mob we saw the
+day before yesterday.&nbsp; I think not of the people.&nbsp; But there
+is a people, even in these days of Ahab, whose feet may yet be on the
+necks of their enemies.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, you are an aristocrat,&rdquo; said Maitland, smiling;
+&ldquo;only you want to abolish the present aristocracy and give us
+another.&nbsp; You must not judge us by what you saw in Piccadilly,
+and while you are still smarting from that smasher on your eye.&nbsp;
+London, I grant you, is not, and never was, a fair specimen.&nbsp; But,
+even in London, you must not be deceived.&nbsp; You don&rsquo;t know
+its real temper; and then, as to not being worth saving - why, the worse
+men are the more they want saving.&nbsp; However, we are both agreed
+about this - crew, Liverpool, the Prince Regent, and his friends.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+A strong word was about to escape before &ldquo;crew,&rdquo; but the
+Major saw that he was in a house where it would be out of place.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;I wish you&rsquo;d join our Friends of the People.&nbsp; We want
+two or three determined fellows like you.&nbsp; We are all safe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What are the &lsquo;Friends of the People&rsquo;?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, it&rsquo;s a club of - a - good fellows who meet twice
+a week for a little talk about affairs.&nbsp; Come with me next Friday
+and see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah hesitated a moment, and then consented.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All right; I&rsquo;ll fetch you.&rdquo;&nbsp; He was going
+away, and picked up from the table a book he had brought with him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;By the way, you will not be at work till to-morrow.&nbsp;
+I&rsquo;ll leave you this to amuse you.&nbsp; It has not been out long.&nbsp;
+Thirteen thousand copies were sold the first day.&nbsp; It is the <i>Corsair</i>
+- Byron&rsquo;s <i>Corsair</i>.&nbsp; My God, it <i>is</i> poetry and
+no mistake!&nbsp; Not exactly, perhaps, in your line; but you are a
+man of sense, and if that doesn&rsquo;t make your heart leap in you
+I&rsquo;m much mistaken.&nbsp; Lord Byron is a neighbour of mine in
+the Albany.&nbsp; I know him by sight.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ve waited a whole
+livelong morning at my window to see him go out.&nbsp; So much the more
+fool you, you&rsquo;ll say.&nbsp; Ah, well, wait till you have read
+the <i>Corsair</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Major shook hands.&nbsp; Mrs. Coleman, who had been totally silent
+during the interview, excepting when she asked him if he would join
+in a cup of tea - an offer most gracefully declined - followed him to
+the top of the stairs.&nbsp; As before, he kissed her hand, made her
+a profound bow, and was off.&nbsp; When she came back into the room
+the faint flush on the cheek was repeated, and there was the same unusual
+little rippling overflow of kindness to her husband.</p>
+<p>In the evening Zachariah took up the book.&nbsp; Byron was not, indeed,
+in his line.&nbsp; He took no interest in him, although, like every
+other Englishman, he had heard much about him.&nbsp; He had passed on
+his way to Albemarle Street the entrance to the Albany.&nbsp; Byron
+was lying there asleep, but Zachariah, although he knew he was within
+fifty yards of him, felt no emotion whatever.&nbsp; This was remarkable,
+for Byron&rsquo;s influence, even in 1814, was singular, beyond that
+of all predecessors and successors, in the wideness of its range.&nbsp;
+He was read by everybody.&nbsp; Men and women who were accessible to
+no other poetry were accessible to his, and old sea-captains, merchants,
+tradesmen, clerks, tailors, milliners, as well as the best judges in
+the land repeated his verses by the page.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Coleman, having cleared away the tea-things, sat knitting till
+half-past six.&nbsp; It was prayer-meeting night, and she never missed
+going.&nbsp; Zachariah generally accompanied her, but he was not quite
+presentable, and stayed at home.&nbsp; He went on with the <i>Corsair</i>,
+and as he read his heart warmed, and he unconsciously found himself
+declaiming several of the most glowing and eloquent lines aloud.&nbsp;
+He was by nature a poet; essentially so, for he loved everything which
+lifted him above what is commonplace.&nbsp; Isaiah, Milton, a storm,
+a revolution, a great passion - with these he was at home; and his education,
+mainly on the Old Testament, contributed greatly to the development
+both of the strength and weakness of his character.&nbsp; For such as
+he are weak as well as strong; weak in the absence of the innumerable
+little sympathies and worldlinesses which make life delightful, and
+but too apt to despise and tread upon those gentle flowers which are
+as really here as the sun and the stars, and are nearer to us.&nbsp;
+Zachariah found in the <i>Corsair</i> exactly what answered to his own
+inmost self, down to its very depths.&nbsp; The lofty style, the scorn
+of what is mean and base, the courage - root of all virtue - that dares
+and evermore dares in the very last extremity, the love of the illimitable,
+of freedom, and the cadences like the fall of waves on a sea-shore were
+attractive to him beyond measure.&nbsp; More than this, there was Love.&nbsp;
+His own love was a failure, and yet it was impossible for him to indulge
+for a moment his imagination elsewhere.&nbsp; The difference between
+him and his wife might have risen to absolute aversion, and yet no wandering
+fancy would ever have been encouraged towards any woman living.&nbsp;
+But when he came to Medora&rsquo;s song:</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Deep in my soul that tender secret dwells,<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lonely
+and lost to light for evermore,<br />Save when to thine my heart responsive
+swells,<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Then trembles into silence as before.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>and more particularly the second verse:</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;There, in its centre, a sepulchral lamp<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Burns
+the slow flame, eternal - but unseen;<br />Which not the darkness of
+despair can damp,<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Though vain its ray as it had
+never been.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>love again asserted itself.&nbsp; It was not love for a person; perhaps
+it was hardly love so much as the capacity for love.&nbsp; Whatever
+it may be, henceforth this is what love will be in him, and it will
+be fully maintained, though it knows no actual object.&nbsp; It will
+manifest itself in suppressed force, seeking for exit in a thousand
+directions; sometimes grotesque perhaps, but always force.&nbsp; It
+will give energy to expression, vitality to his admiration of the beautiful,
+devotion to his worship, enthusiasm to his zeal for freedom.&nbsp; More
+than this, it will <i>not</i> make his private life unbearable by contrast;
+rather the reverse.&nbsp; The vision of Medora will not intensify the
+shadow over Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell, but will soften it.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER II - OUTSIDE PIKE STREET</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>On the Friday evening the Major called for Zachariah.&nbsp; He had
+not yet returned, but his wife was at home.&nbsp; The tea-things were
+ready, the kettle was on the hob, and she sat knitting at the window.&nbsp;
+Her visitor knocked at the door; she rose, and he entered.&nbsp; This
+time he was a little less formal, for after making his bow he shook
+her hand.&nbsp; She, too, was not quite so stiff, and begged him to
+be seated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Upon my word, madam,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;if I were as
+well looked after as Mr. Coleman, I doubt if I should be so anxious
+as he is to change the existing order of things.&nbsp; You would think
+there is some excuse for me if you were to see the misery and privation
+of my lodgings.&nbsp; Nobody cares a straw, and as for dust and dirt,
+they would drive you distracted.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Zachariah smiled, and shifted one of her little white-stockinged
+feet over the other.&nbsp; She had on the neatest of sandals, with black
+ribbons, which crossed over the instep.&nbsp; It was one of Zachariah&rsquo;s
+weak points, she considered, that he did not seem to care sufficiently
+for cleanliness, and when he came in he would sometimes put his black
+hand, before he had washed, on the white tea-cloth, or on the back of
+a chair, and leave behind him a patch of printer&rsquo;s ink.&nbsp;
+It was bad enough to be obliged always to wipe the door-handles.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do my best; but as for dirt, you cannot be so badly off
+in the Albany as we are in Clerkenwell.&nbsp; Clerkenwell is very disagreeable,
+but we are obliged to live here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If Clerkenwell is so bad, all the more honour to you for your
+triumph.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know about honour; my husband says it is
+simply my nature.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nature!&nbsp; All the better.&nbsp; I could never live with
+anybody who was always trying and trying and struggling.&nbsp; I believe
+in Nature.&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>This was an abstract inquiry beyond Mrs. Zachariah&rsquo;s scope.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;It is some people&rsquo;s nature to like to be tidy,&rdquo; she
+contented herself with observing; &ldquo;and others do not care for
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, perhaps it is because I am a soldier, and accustomed to
+order, that I care for it above everything.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Zachariah started for a moment.&nbsp; She reflected.&nbsp; She
+had forgotten it - that she was talking to an officer in His Majesty&rsquo;s
+service.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you seen much fighting, sir?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, well, for the matter of that, have had my share.&nbsp;
+I was at Talavera, and suffer a good deal now in damp weather, from
+having slept so much in the open air.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dear me, that is very hard!&nbsp; My husband is rheumatic,
+and finds Tarver&rsquo;s embrocation do him more good than anything.&nbsp;
+Will you try it if I give you some?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;With profound gratitude.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mrs. Coleman filled
+an empty bottle, took a piece of folded brown paper out of the fireplace
+cupboard, untied a coil of twine, made up a compact little parcel, and
+gave it to the Major.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A thousand thanks.&nbsp; If faith now can really cure, I shall
+be well in a week.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Zachariah smiled again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you Dissenters?&rdquo; he asked abruptly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&nbsp; Independents.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am not surprised.&nbsp; Ever since Cromwell&rsquo;s days
+you have always been on the side of liberty; but are you strict - I
+don&rsquo;t know exactly what to call it - go to the prayer-meetings
+- and so on?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We are both members of the church, and Mr. Coleman is a deacon,&rdquo;
+replied Mrs. Zachariah, with a gravity not hitherto observable.</p>
+<p>She looked out of the window, and saw him coming down the street.&nbsp;
+She placed the kettle nearer the fire, put the tea in the teapot, and
+sat down again.&nbsp; He came upstairs, went straight into his bedroom,
+cleaned himself as much as possible, changed his coat, and entered.&nbsp;
+The Major, being pressed, consented to take tea, and Mrs. Zachariah
+was a cheerful and even talkative hostess, to the surprise of at least
+one member of the company.&nbsp; She sat next to her husband, and the
+Major sat opposite.&nbsp; Three silver spoons and silver sugar-tongs
+had been put on the table.&nbsp; Ordinarily the spoons were pewter.&nbsp;
+Zachariah, fond of sugar, was in the habit of taking it with his fingers
+- a practice to which Mrs. Zachariah strongly objected, and with some
+reason.&nbsp; It was dirty, and as his hands were none of the whitest,
+the neighbouring lumps became soiled, and acquired a flavour which did
+not add to their sweetness.&nbsp; She had told him of it a score of
+times; but he did not amend, and seemed to think her particularity rather
+a vice than a virtue.&nbsp; So it is that, as love gilds all defects,
+lack of love sees nothing but defect in what is truly estimable.&nbsp;
+Notwithstanding the sugar-tongs, Zachariah - excusable, perhaps, this
+time, considering the warmth of the speech he was making against the
+late war - pushed them aside, and helped himself after the usual fashion.&nbsp;
+A cloud came over Mrs. Zachariah&rsquo;s face; she compressed her lips
+in downright anger, pushed the tongs towards him with a rattle, and
+trod on his foot at the same time.&nbsp; His oration came to an end;
+he looked round, became confused, and was suddenly silent; but the Major
+gallantly came to the rescue by jumping up to prevent Mrs. Zachariah
+from moving in order to put more water on the tea.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Excuse me, pray;&rdquo; but as he had risen somewhat suddenly
+to reach the kettle, he caught the table-cloth on his knee, and in a
+moment his cup and saucer and the plate were on the floor in twenty
+pieces, and the tea running all over the carpet.&nbsp; Zachariah looked
+at his wife, and expected to see her half frantic.&nbsp; But no; though
+it was her best china, she stopped the Major&rsquo;s apologies, and
+assured him, with something almost like laughter, that it was not of
+the slightest consequence.&nbsp; &ldquo;Tea doesn&rsquo;t stain; I hope
+it has not gone on your coat;&rdquo; and producing a duster from the
+cupboard, the evil, save the loss of the crockery, was remedied in a
+couple of minutes.</p>
+<p>At half-past seven o&rsquo;clock the Major and Zachariah departed.&nbsp;
+They walked across the top of Hatton Garden, and so onwards till they
+came to Red Lion Street.&nbsp; Entering a low passage at the side of
+a small public-house, they went up some stairs, and found themselves
+opposite a door which was locked.&nbsp; The Major gave three taps and
+then paused.&nbsp; A moment afterwards he tapped again twice; the lock
+was turned, and he was admitted.&nbsp; Zachariah found himself in a
+spacious kind of loft.&nbsp; There was a table running down the middle,
+and round it were seated about a dozen men, most of whom were smoking
+and drinking beer.&nbsp; They welcomed the Major with rappings, and
+he moved towards the empty chair at the head of the board.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;re late, chairman,&rdquo; said one.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Been to fetch a new comrade.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is that the cove?&nbsp; He looks all right.&nbsp; Here&rsquo;s
+your health, guv&rsquo;nor, and d---n all tyrants.&rdquo;&nbsp; With
+that he took a pull at the beer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Swear him,&rdquo; said the Major.</p>
+<p>A disagreeable-looking man with a big round nose, small red eyes,
+unshaven face, and slightly unsteady voice, rose, laid down his pipe,
+and beckoned to Zachariah, who advanced towards him.</p>
+<p>The Secretary - for he it was - produced a memorandum-book, and began
+with a stutter:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;In the sacred name of - &rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Stop!&rdquo; cried Zachariah, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t swear.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That will do,&rdquo; shouted the Major across a hubbub which
+arose - &ldquo;religious.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ll answer for him: let him sign;
+that&rsquo;s enough.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You <i>are</i> answerable,&rdquo; growled the Secretary &ldquo;if
+he&rsquo;s a d---d spy we&rsquo;ll have his blood, that&rsquo;s all,
+and yours too, Major.&rdquo;&nbsp; The Major took no notice, and Zachariah
+put his name in the book, the roll of the Red Lion Friends of the People.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Business, Mr. Secretary - the last minutes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The minutes were read, and an adjourned debate was then renewed on
+a motion to organise public meetings to petition in favour of Parliamentary
+Reform.&nbsp; The reader must understand that politics in those days
+were somewhat different from the politics of fifty or sixty years later.&nbsp;
+Bread was thirteenpence a quartern loaf; the national debt, with a much
+smaller population, was what it is now; everything was taxed, and wages
+were very low.&nbsp; But what was most galling was the fact that the
+misery, the taxes, and the debt had been accumulated, not by the will
+of the people, but by a corrupt House of Commons, the property of borough-mongers,
+for the sake of supporting the Bourbons directly, but indirectly and
+chiefly the House of Hanover and the hated aristocracy.&nbsp; There
+was also a scandalous list of jobs and pensions.&nbsp; Years afterwards,
+when the Government was forced to look into abuses, the Reverend Thomas
+Thurlow, to take one example amongst others, was awarded, as compensation
+for the loss of his two offices, Patentee of Bankrupts and Keeper of
+Hanaper, the modest allowance annually until his death of &pound;11,380
+14s. 6d.&nbsp; The men and women of that time, although there were scarcely
+any newspapers, were not fools, and there was not a Nottingham weaver
+who put a morsel of bread in his hungry belly who did not know that
+two morsels might have gone there if there were no impost on foreign
+corn to maintain rents, and if there were no interest to pay on money
+borrowed to keep these sacred kings and lords safe in their palaces
+and parks.&nbsp; Opinion at the Red Lion Friends of the People Club
+was much divided.&nbsp; Some were for demonstrations and agitation,
+whilst others were for physical force.&nbsp; The discussion went on
+irregularly amidst much tumult.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How long would they have waited over the water if they had
+done nothing but jaw?&nbsp; They met together and tore down the Bastile,
+and that&rsquo;s what we must do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That may be true,&rdquo; said a small white-faced man who
+neither smoked nor drank, &ldquo;but what followed?&nbsp; You don&rsquo;t
+do anything really till you&rsquo;ve reasoned it out.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my belief, parson,&rdquo; retorted the other, &ldquo;that
+you are in a d---d funk.&nbsp; This is not the place for Methodists.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Order, order!&rdquo; shouted the chairman.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am not a Methodist,&rdquo; quietly replied the other; &ldquo;unless
+you mean by Methodist a man who fears God and loves his Saviour.&nbsp;
+I am not ashamed to own that, and I am none the worse for it as far
+as I know.&nbsp; As for being a coward, we shall see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary meanwhile had gone on with his beer.&nbsp; Despite
+his notorious failing, he had been chosen for the post because in his
+sober moments he was quick with his pen.&nbsp; He was not a working
+man; nay, it was said he had been at Oxford.&nbsp; His present profession
+was that of attorney&rsquo;s clerk.&nbsp; He got up and began a harangue
+about Brutus.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s one way of dealing with tyrants - the old way,
+Mr. Chairman.&nbsp; Death to them all, say I; the short cut; none of
+your palaver; what&rsquo;s the use of palavering?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was a little shaky, took hold of the rail of his chair, and as
+he sat down broke his pipe.</p>
+<p>Some slight applause followed; but the majority were either against
+him, or thought it better to be silent.</p>
+<p>The discussion continued irregularly, and Zachariah noticed that
+about half-a-dozen of those present took no part in it.&nbsp; At about
+ten o&rsquo;clock the chairman declared the meeting at an end; and it
+was quite time he did so, for the smoke and the drink had done their
+work.</p>
+<p>As Zachariah came out, a man stood by his side whom he had scarcely
+noticed during the evening.&nbsp; He was evidently a shoemaker.&nbsp;
+There was a smell of leather about him, and his hands and face were
+grimy.&nbsp; He had a slightly turned-up nose, smallish eyes, half hidden
+under very black eyebrows, and his lips were thin and straight.&nbsp;
+His voice was exceedingly high-pitched, and had something creaking in
+it like the sound of an ill-greased axle.&nbsp; He spoke with emphasis,
+but not quite like an Englishman, was fond of alliteration, and often,
+in the middle of a sentence, paused to search for a word which pleased
+him.&nbsp; Having found it, the remainder of the sentence was poised
+and cast from him like a dart.&nbsp; His style was a curious mixture
+of foreign imperfection and rhetoric - a rhetoric, however, by no means
+affected.&nbsp; It might have been so in another person, but it was
+not so in him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Going east?&rdquo; said he.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you want company, I&rsquo;ll walk with you.&nbsp; What
+do you think of the Friends?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah, it will be borne in mind, although he was a Democrat,
+had never really seen the world.&nbsp; He belonged to a religious sect.&nbsp;
+He believed in the people, it is true, but it was a people of Cromwellian
+Independents.&nbsp; He purposely avoided the company of men who used
+profane language, and never in his life entered a tavern.&nbsp; He did
+not know what the masses really were; for although he worked with his
+hands, printers were rather a superior set of fellows, and his was an
+old-established shop which took the best of its class.&nbsp; When brought
+actually into contact with swearers and drunkards as patriots and reformers
+he was more than a little shocked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not much,&rdquo; quoth he.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not worse than our virtuous substitute for a sovereign?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, certainly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You object to giving them votes, but is not the opinion of
+the silliest as good as that of Lord Sidmouth?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s no reason for giving them votes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should like to behold the experiment of a new form of misgovernment.&nbsp;
+If we are to be eternally enslaved to fools and swindlers, why not a
+change?&nbsp; We have had regal misrule and aristocratic swindling long
+enough.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Seriously, my friend,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;study that
+immortal charter, the Declaration of the Rights of Man.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stopped in the street, and with an oratorical air repeated the
+well-known lines, &ldquo;Men are born and always continue free, and
+equal in respect of their rights. . . .&nbsp; Every citizen has a right,
+either by himself or by his representative, to a free voice in determining
+the necessity of public contributions, the appropriation of them, and
+their amount, mode of assessment, and duration.&rdquo;&nbsp; He knew
+them by heart.&nbsp; &ldquo;It is the truth,&rdquo; he continued: &ldquo;you
+must come to that, unless you believe in the Divine appointment of dynasties.&nbsp;
+There is no logical repose between Lord Liverpool and the Declaration.&nbsp;
+What is the real difference between him and you?&nbsp; None but a question
+of degree.&nbsp; He does not believe in absolute monarchy, and stays
+at this point.&nbsp; You go a little lower.&nbsp; You are both alike.&nbsp;
+How dare you say, &lsquo;My brother, I am more honest and more religious
+than you; pay me half-a-crown and I will spend it for your welfare&rsquo;?&nbsp;
+You cannot tell me that.&nbsp; You know I should have a <i>right</i>
+to reject you.&nbsp; I refuse to be coerced.&nbsp; I prefer freedom
+to - felicity.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah was puzzled.&nbsp; He was not one of those persons who
+can see no escape from an argument and yet are not convinced; one of
+those happy creatures to whom the operations of the intellect are a
+joke - who, if they are shown that the three angles of a triangle are
+equal to two right angles, decline to disprove it, but act as if they
+were but one.&nbsp; To Zachariah the appeal &ldquo;Where will you stop?&rdquo;
+was generally successful.&nbsp; If his understanding told him he could
+not stop, he went on.&nbsp; And yet it so often happens that if we do
+go on we are dissatisfied; we cannot doubt each successive step, but
+we doubt the conclusion.&nbsp; We arrive serenely at the end, and lo!
+it is an absurdity which common sense, as we call it, demolishes with
+scoffs and laughter.</p>
+<p>They had walked down to Holborn in order to avoid the rather dangerous
+quarter of Gray&rsquo;s Inn Lane.&nbsp; Presently they were overtaken
+by the Secretary, staggering under more liquor.&nbsp; He did not recognise
+them, and rolled on.&nbsp; The shoemaker instantly detached himself
+from Zachariah and followed the drunken official.&nbsp; He was about
+to turn into a public-house, when his friend came up to him softly,
+abstracted a book which was sticking out of his pocket, laid hold of
+him by the arm, and marched off with him across the street and through
+Great Turnstile.</p>
+<p>Sunday came, and Zachariah and his wife attended the services at
+Pike Street Meeting-house, conducted by that worthy servant of God,
+the Reverend Thomas Bradshaw.&nbsp; He was at that time preaching a
+series of sermons on the Gospel Covenant, and he enlarged upon the distinction
+between those with whom the covenant was made and those with whom there
+was none, save of judgment.&nbsp; The poorest and the weakest, if they
+were sons of God, were more blessed than the strongest who were not.&nbsp;
+These were nothing: &ldquo;they should go out like the smoke of a candle
+with an ill favour; whereas the weak and simple ones are upholden, and
+go from strength to strength, and increase with the increasings of God.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Zachariah was rather confused by what had happened during the week,
+and his mind, especially during the long prayer, wandered a good deal
+much to his discomfort.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER III - THE THEATRE</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Major Maitland was very fond of the theatre, and as he had grown
+fond of Zachariah, and frequently called at his house, sometimes on
+business and sometimes for pleasure, he often asked his friend to accompany
+him.&nbsp; But for a long time he held out.&nbsp; The theatre and dancing
+in 1814 were an abomination to the Independents.&nbsp; Since 1814 they
+have advanced, and consequently they not only go to plays and dance
+like other Christians, but the freer, less prejudiced, and more enlightened
+encourage the ballet, spend their holidays in Paris, and study French
+character there.&nbsp; Zachariah, however, had a side open to literature,
+and though he had never seen a play acted, he read plays.&nbsp; He read
+Shakespeare, and had often thought how wonderful one of his dramas must
+be on the stage.&nbsp; So it fell out that at last he yielded, and it
+was arranged that Mrs. and Mr. Coleman should go with the Major to Drury
+Lane to see the great Edmund Kean in &ldquo;Othello.&rdquo;&nbsp; The
+day was fixed, and Mrs. Coleman was busy for a long time beforehand
+in furbishing up and altering her wedding-dress, so that she might make
+a decent figure.&nbsp; She was all excitement, and as happy as she could
+well be.&nbsp; For months Zachariah had not known her to be so communicative.&nbsp;
+She seemed to take an interest in politics; she discussed with him the
+report that Bonaparte was mad, and Zachariah, on his part, told her
+what had happened to him during the day, and what he had read in the
+newspapers.&nbsp; The Prince Regent had been to Oxford, and verses had
+been composed in his honour.&nbsp; Mr. Bosanquet had recited to the
+Prince an ode, or something of the kind, and had ventured, after dilating
+on the enormous services rendered by kings in general to the community
+during the last twenty years, to warn them:</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;But ye yourselves must bow: your praise be given<br />To Him,
+the Lord of lords, your King in heaven.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>And Mrs. Zachariah, with a smile and unwonted wit, wondered whether
+Mr. Bosanquet would not be prosecuted for such treasonable sentiments.&nbsp;
+Zachariah hardly knew what to make of his wife&rsquo;s gaiety, but he
+was glad.&nbsp; He thought that perhaps he was answerable for her silence
+and coldness, and he determined at all costs to try and amend, and,
+however weary he might be when he came home at night, that he would
+speak and get her to speak too.</p>
+<p>The eventful evening arrived.&nbsp; Zachariah was to get away as
+early as he could; the Major was to call at about six.&nbsp; After Zachariah
+had washed and dressed, they were to take a hackney coach together.&nbsp;
+At the appointed hour the Major appeared, and found Mrs. Zachariah already
+in her best clothes and tea ready.&nbsp; She was charming - finished
+from the uttermost hair on her head to the sole of her slipper - and
+the dove-coloured, somewhat Quakerish tint of her wedding-gown suited
+her admirably.&nbsp; Quarter-past six came, but there was no Zachariah,
+and she thought she would make the tea, as he was never long over his
+meals.&nbsp; Half-past six, and he was not there.&nbsp; The two now
+sat down, and began to listen to every sound.&nbsp; The coach was ordered
+at a quarter to seven.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What shall we do?&rdquo; said the Major.&nbsp; &ldquo;I cannot
+send you on and wait for him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&nbsp; How vexing it is!&nbsp; It is just like - &rdquo;
+and she stopped.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We must stay where we are, I suppose; it is rather a pity
+to miss being there when Kean first comes on.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She was in a fretful agony of impatience.&nbsp; She rose and looked
+out of the window, thought she heard somebody on the stairs, went outside
+on the landing, returned, walked up and down, and mentally cursed her
+husband, not profanely - she dared not do that - but with curses none
+the less intense.&nbsp; Poor man! he had been kept by a job he had to
+finish.&nbsp; She might have thought this possible, and, in fact, did
+think it possible; but it made no difference in the hatred which she
+permitted to rise against him.&nbsp; At last her animosity relaxed,
+and she began to regard him with more composure, and even with pleasure.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Had you not better go and leave me here, so that we may follow?&nbsp;
+I do not know what has happened, and I am sure he would be so sorry
+if you were to be disappointed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She turned her eyes anxiously towards the Major.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That will never do.&nbsp; You know nothing about the theatre.&nbsp;
+No! no!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She paused and stamped her little foot, and looked again out of the
+window.</p>
+<p>The coachman knocked at the door, and when she went down asked her
+how long he had to wait.</p>
+<p>She came back, and throwing herself on a chair, fairly gave way to
+her mortification, and cried out, &ldquo;It is too bad - too bad! -
+it is, really.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what,&rdquo; replied the Major.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Do you mind coming with me?&nbsp; We will leave one of the tickets
+which I have bought, and we can add a message that he is to follow,
+and that we will keep his place for him.&nbsp; Put on your bonnet at
+once, and I will scribble a line to him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Zachariah did not see any other course open; her wrath once
+more disappeared, and in another moment she was busy before the looking-glass.&nbsp;
+The note was written, and pinned to the ticket, both being stuck on
+the mantelpiece in a conspicuous place, so that Zachariah might see
+them directly he arrived.&nbsp; In exuberant spirits she added in her
+own hand, &ldquo;Make as much haste as you can, my dear,&rdquo; and
+subscribed her initials.&nbsp; It was a tremendously hot afternoon and,
+what with the fire and the weather and the tea, the air was very oppressive.&nbsp;
+She threw the bottom sash open a little wider therefore, and the two
+rolled off to Drury Lane.&nbsp; As the door slammed behind them, the
+draught caught the ticket and note, and in a moment they were in the
+flames and consumed.</p>
+<p>Ten minutes afterwards in came Zachariah.&nbsp; He had run all the
+way, and was dripping with perspiration.&nbsp; He rushed upstairs, but
+there was nobody.&nbsp; He stared round him, looked at the plates, saw
+that two had been there, rushed down again, and asked the woman in the
+shop:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Has Mrs. Coleman left any message?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&nbsp; She went off with that gentleman that comes here
+now and then; but she never said nothing to me,&rdquo; and Zachariah
+thought he saw something like a grin on her face.</p>
+<p>It may be as well to say that he never dreamed of any real injury
+done to him by his wife, and, in truth, the Major was incapable of doing
+him any.&nbsp; He was gay, unorthodox, a man who went about in the world,
+romantic, republican, but he never would have condescended to seduce
+a woman, and least of all a woman belonging to a friend.&nbsp; He paid
+women whom he admired all kinds of attentions, but they were nothing
+more than the gallantry of the age.&nbsp; Although they were nothing,
+however, to him, they were a good deal more than nothing to Mrs. Zachariah.&nbsp;
+The symbolism of an act varies much, and what may be mere sport to one
+is sin in another.&nbsp; The Major&rsquo;s easy manners and very free
+courtesy were innocent so far as he was concerned; but when his rigid,
+religious companion in the hackney coach felt them sweet, and was better
+pleased with them than she had ever been with her husband&rsquo;s caresses,
+she sinned, and she knew that she sinned.</p>
+<p>What curiously composite creatures we are!&nbsp; Zachariah for a
+moment was half pleased, for she had now clearly wronged him.&nbsp;
+The next moment, however, he was wretched.&nbsp; He took up the teapot;
+it was empty; the tea-caddy was locked up.&nbsp; It was a mere trifle,
+but, as he said to himself, the merest trifles are important if they
+are significant.&nbsp; He brooded, therefore, over the empty teapot
+and locked tea-caddy for fully five minutes.&nbsp; She had not only
+gone without him, but had forgotten him.&nbsp; At the end of the five
+minutes teapot and tea-caddy had swollen to enormous dimensions and
+had become the basis of large generalisations.&nbsp; &ldquo;I would
+rather,&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;be condemned to be led out and hung
+if I knew one human soul would love me for a week beforehand and honour
+me afterwards, than live half a century and be nothing to any living
+creature.&rdquo;&nbsp; Presently, however, it occurred to him that,
+although in the abstract this might be true yet at that particular moment
+he was a fool; and he made the best of his way to Drury Lane.&nbsp;
+He managed to find his way into the gallery just as Kean came on the
+stage in the second scene of the first act.&nbsp; Far down below him,
+through the misty air, he thought he could see his wife and the Major;
+but he was in an instant arrested by the play.&nbsp; It was all new
+to him; the huge building, the thousands of excited, eager faces, the
+lights, and the scenery.&nbsp; He had not listened, moreover, to a dozen
+sentences from the great actor before he had forgotten himself and was
+in Venice, absorbed in the fortunes of the Moor.&nbsp; What a blessing
+is this for which we have to thank the playwright and his interpreters,
+to be able to step out of the dingy, dreary London streets, with all
+their wretched corrosive cares, and at least for three hours to be swayed
+by nobler passions.&nbsp; For three hours the little petty self, with
+all its mean surroundings, withdraws: we breathe a different atmosphere,
+we are jealous, glad, weep, laugh with Shakespeare&rsquo;s jealousy,
+gladness, tears, and laughter!&nbsp; What priggishness, too, is that
+which objects to Shakespeare on a stage because no acting can realise
+the ideal formed by solitary reading!&nbsp; Are we really sure of it?&nbsp;
+Are we really sure that Garrick or Kean or Siddons, with all their genius
+and study, fall short of a lazy dream in an arm-chair!&nbsp; Kean had
+not only a thousand things to tell Zachariah - meanings in innumerable
+passages which had before been overlooked - but he gave the character
+of Othello such vivid distinctness that it might almost be called a
+creation.&nbsp; He was exactly the kind of actor, moreover, to impress
+him.&nbsp; He was great, grand, passionate, overwhelming with a like
+emotion the apprentice and the critic.&nbsp; Everybody after listening
+to a play or reading a book uses it when he comes to himself again to
+fill his own pitcher, and the Cyprus tragedy lent itself to Zachariah
+as an illustration of his own Clerkenwell sorrows and as a gospel for
+them, although his were so different from those of the Moor.&nbsp; Why
+did he so easily suspect Desdemona?&nbsp; Is it not improbable that
+a man with any faith in woman, and such a woman, should proceed to murder
+on such evidence?&nbsp; If Othello had reflected for a moment, he would
+have seen that everything might have been explained.&nbsp; Why did he
+not question, sift, examine, before taking such tremendous revenge?
+- and for the moment the story seemed unnatural.&nbsp; But then he considered
+again that men and women, if they do not murder one another, do actually,
+in everyday life, for no reason whatever, come to wrong conclusions
+about each other; utterly and to the end of their lines misconstrue
+and lose each other.&nbsp; Nay, it seems to be a kind of luxury to them
+to believe that those who could and would love them are false to them.&nbsp;
+We make haste to doubt the divinest fidelity; we drive the dagger into
+each other, and we smother the Desdemona who would have been the light
+of life to us, not because of any deadly difference or grievous injury,
+but because we idly and wilfully reject.</p>
+<p>The tale, evermore is:</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Of one whose hand,<br />Like
+the base Indian, threw a pearl away<br />Richer than all his tribe.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>So said Zachariah to himself as he came out into Drury Lane and walked
+eastwards.&nbsp; His wife and the Major were back before him.&nbsp;
+The Major did not wait but returned at once to Albany Street, leaving
+Mrs. Coleman to sit up for her husband.&nbsp; He was not hurrying himself,
+and could not free himself from the crowd so easily as those who left
+from below.&nbsp; The consequence was that he was a full half-hour behind
+her, and she was not particularly pleased at having been kept so long
+out of her bed.&nbsp; When she let him in all that she said was, &ldquo;Oh,
+here you are at last,&rdquo; and immediately retired.&nbsp; Strange
+to say, she forgot all about family worship - never before omitted,
+however late it might be.&nbsp; If she had taken the trouble to ask
+him whether he had seen her message and the ticket so much might have
+been cleared up.&nbsp; Of course he, too, ought to have spoken to her;
+it was the natural thing to do, and it was extraordinary that he did
+not.&nbsp; But he let her go; she knelt down by her bed, prayed her
+prayer to her God, and in five minutes was asleep.&nbsp; Zachariah ten
+minutes afterwards prayed his prayer to <i>his</i> God, and lay down,
+but not to sleep.&nbsp; No sooner was his head on his pillow than the
+play was before his eyes, and Othello, Desdemona, and Iago moved and
+spoke again for hours.&nbsp; Then came the thoughts with which he had
+left the theatre and the revulsion on reaching home.&nbsp; Burning with
+excitement at what was a discovery to him, he had entered his house
+with even an enthusiasm for his wife, and an impatient desire to try
+upon her the experiment which he thought would reveal so much to him
+and make him wealthy for ever.&nbsp; But when she met him he was struck
+dumb.&nbsp; He was shut up again in his old prison, and what was so
+hopeful three hours before was all vanity.&nbsp; So he struggled through
+the short night, and, as soon as he could, rose and went out.&nbsp;
+This was a frequent practice, and his wife was not surprised when she
+woke to find he had gone.&nbsp; She was in the best of spirits again,
+and when he returned, after offering him the usual morning greeting,
+she inquired at once in what part of the theatre he was, and why he
+had not used the ticket.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We waited for you till the last moment; we should have been
+too late if we had stayed an instant longer, and I made sure you would
+come directly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ticket - what ticket?&nbsp; I saw no ticket?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We left it on the mantelpiece, and there was a message with
+it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His face brightened, but he said nothing.&nbsp; A rush of blood rose
+to his head; he moved towards her and kissed her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What a wretch you must have thought me!&rdquo; she said half
+laughingly, as she instantly smoothed her hair again, which he had ruffled.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;But what has become of the ticket?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Fell in the fire most likely; the window was open when I came
+in, and the draught blew the picture over the mantelpiece nearly off
+its hook.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The breakfast was the happiest meal they had had for months.&nbsp;
+Zachariah did his best to overcome his natural indisposition to talk.&nbsp;
+Except when he was very much excited, he always found conversation with
+his wife too difficult on any save the most commonplace topics, although
+he was eloquent enough in company which suited him.&nbsp; She listened
+to him, recalling with great pleasure the events of the preceding evening.&nbsp;
+She was even affectionate - affectionate for her - and playfully patted
+his shoulder as he went out, warning him not to be so late again.&nbsp;
+What was the cause of her gaiety?&nbsp; Was she thinking improperly
+of the Major?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; If she had gone with Zachariah alone to
+the theatre would she have been so cheerful?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; Did she
+really think she loved her husband better?&nbsp; Yes.&nbsp; The human
+heart, even the heart of Mrs. Coleman, is beyond our analysis.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV - A FRIEND OF THE PEOPLE</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>The Friends of the People continued their meetings, and Zachariah
+attended regularly, although, after about three months&rsquo; experience,
+he began to doubt whether any advance was being made.&nbsp; The immediate
+subject of discussion now was a projected meeting in Spitalfields, and
+each branch of the Society was to organise its own contingent.&nbsp;
+All this was perfectly harmless.&nbsp; There was a good deal of wild
+talk occasionally; but it mostly came from Mr. Secretary, especially
+when he had had his beer.&nbsp; One evening he had taken more than enough,
+and was decidedly staggering as he walked down Lamb&rsquo;s Conduit
+Street homewards.&nbsp; Zachariah was at some distance, and in front
+of him, in close converse, were his shoemaking friend, the Major, and
+a third man whom he could not recognise.&nbsp; The Secretary swayed
+himself across Holborn and into Chancery Lane, the others following.&nbsp;
+Presently they came up to him, passed him, and turned off to the left,
+leaving him to continue his troubled voyage southwards.&nbsp; The night
+air, however, was a little too much for him, and when he got to Fleet
+Street he was under the necessity of supporting himself against a wall.&nbsp;
+He became more and more seditious as he became more and more muddled,
+so that at last he attracted the attention of a constable who laid hold
+of him and locked him up for the night.&nbsp; In the morning he was
+very much surprised to find himself in a cell, feeling very miserable,
+charged with being drunk and disorderly, and, what was ten times worse,
+with uttering blasphemy against the Prince Regent.&nbsp; It may as well
+be mentioned here that the greatest precautions had been taken to prevent
+any knowledge by the authorities of the proceedings of the Friends of
+the People.&nbsp; The Habeas Corpus Act was not yet suspended, but the
+times were exceedingly dangerous.&nbsp; The Friends, therefore, never
+left in a body nor by the same door.&nbsp; Watch was always kept with
+the utmost strictness, not only on the stairs, but from a window which
+commanded the street.&nbsp; No written summons was ever sent to attend
+any meeting, ordinary or extraordinary.&nbsp; Mr. Secretary, therefore,
+was much disconcerted when he found that his pockets were emptied of
+all his official documents.&nbsp; He languished in his cell till about
+twelve o&rsquo;clock, very sick and very anxious, when he was put into
+a cab, and, to his great surprise, instead of being taken to a police
+court, was carried to Whitehall.&nbsp; There he was introduced to an
+elderly gentleman, who sat at the head of a long table covered with
+green cloth.&nbsp; A younger man, apparently a clerk, sat at a smaller
+table by the fire and wrote, seeming to take no notice whatever of what
+was going on.&nbsp; Mr. Secretary expected to hear something about transportation,
+and to be denounced as an enemy of the human race; but he was pleasantly
+disappointed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sorry to see a respectable person like you in such a position.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Secretary wondered how the gentleman knew he was respectable;
+but was silent.&nbsp; He was not now in an eloquent or seditious humour.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You may imagine that we know you, or we should not have taken
+the trouble to bring you here.&nbsp; We should merely have had you committed
+for trial.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary thought of his empty pockets.&nbsp; In truth it was
+the Major who had emptied them before he crossed Holborn; but of course
+he suspected the constable.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You must be aware that you have exposed yourself to heavy
+penalties.&nbsp; I prefer, however, to think of you as a well-meaning
+but misguided person.&nbsp; What good do you think you can do?&nbsp;
+I can assure you that the Government are fully aware of the distress
+which prevails, and will do all they can to alleviate it.&nbsp; If you
+have any grievances, why not seek their redress by legitimate and constitutional
+means?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary was flattered.&nbsp; He had never been brought face
+to face with one of the governing classes before.&nbsp; He looked round;
+everything was so quiet, so pacific; there were no fetters nor thumbscrews;
+the sun was lighting up the park; children were playing in it, and the
+necessity for a revolution was not on that particular spot quite apparent.</p>
+<p>A messenger now entered carrying some sandwiches and a little decanter
+of wine on a tray, covered with the whitest of cloths.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It struck me,&rdquo; continued the official, taking a sandwich
+and pouring out a glass of wine, &ldquo;when I heard of your arrest,
+that I should like myself to have a talk with you.&nbsp; We really are
+most loth to proceed to extremities. and you have, I understand, a wife
+and children.&nbsp; I need not tell you what we could do with you if
+we liked.&nbsp; Now, just consider, my friend.&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t want
+you to give up one single principle; but is it worth your while to be
+sent to jail and to have your home broken up merely because you want
+to achieve your object in the wrong way, and in a foolish way?&nbsp;
+Keep your principles; we do not object; but don&rsquo;t go out into
+the road with them.&nbsp; And you, as an intelligent man, must see that
+you will not get what you desire by violence as soon as you will by
+lawful methods.&nbsp; Is the difference between us worth such a price
+as you will have to pay?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary hesitated; he could not speak; he was very faint and
+nervous.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, you&rsquo;ve had nothing to eat, I dare say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The bell was rung, and was answered immediately.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Bring some bread and cheese and beer.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The bread and cheese and beer were brought.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sit down there and have something; I will go on with my work,
+and we will finish our talk afterwards.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary could not eat much bread and cheese, but he drank the
+beer greedily.</p>
+<p>When he had finished the clerk left the room.&nbsp; The Commissioner
+- for he was one of the Commissioners of His Majesty&rsquo;s Treasury
+- followed him to the door, closed it, not without satisfying himself
+that the constable was at his post outside, returned to his seat, opened
+his drawer, saw that a pistol and five guineas were there, and then
+began:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, look here, my dear sir, let me speak plainly with you
+and come to an understanding.&nbsp; We have made inquiries about you;
+we believe you to be a good sort of fellow, and we are not going to
+prosecute you.&nbsp; We do hope, however, that, should you hear anything
+which is - well - really treasonable, you will let us know.&nbsp; Treason,
+I am sure, is as dreadful to you as it is to me.&nbsp; The Government,
+as I said before, are most desirous of helping those who really deserve
+it; and to prove this, as I understand you are out of work, just accept
+that little trifle.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The guineas were handed to Mr. Secretary, who looked at them doubtfully.&nbsp;
+With the beer his conscience had returned, and he broke out:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If you want me to be a d---d spy, d---d if I do!&rdquo;&nbsp;
+The Commissioner was not in the least disconcerted.&nbsp; &ldquo;Spy,
+my man! - who mentioned the word?&nbsp; The money was offered because
+you haven&rsquo;t got a sixpence.&nbsp; Haven&rsquo;t I told you you
+are not required to give up a single principle?&nbsp; Have I asked you
+to denounce a single companion?&nbsp; All I have requested you to do,
+as an honest citizen, is to give me a hint if you hear of anything which
+would be as perilous to you as to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary after his brief explosion felt flaccid.&nbsp; He was
+subject to violent oscillations, and he looked at the five guineas again.&nbsp;
+He was very weak - weak naturally, and weaker through a long course
+of alcohol.&nbsp; He was, therefore, prone to obscure, crooked, silly
+devices, at any rate when he was sober.&nbsp; Half drunk he was very
+bold; but when he had no liquor inside him he could <i>not</i> do what
+was straight.&nbsp; He had not strength sufficient, if two courses were
+open, to cast aside the one for which there were the fewer and less
+conclusive reasons, and to take the proper path, as if no other were
+before him.&nbsp; A sane, strong person is not the prey of reasons:
+a person like Mr. Secretary can never free himself from them, and after
+he has arrived at some kind of determination is still uncertain and
+harks back.&nbsp; With the roar of the flames of the Cities of the Plain
+in his ears, he stops, and is half afraid that it was his duty after
+all to stay and try and put them out.&nbsp; The Secretary, therefore,
+pondered again.&nbsp; The money was given on no condition that was worth
+anything.&nbsp; For aught he knew, the Commissioner had his books and
+papers already.&nbsp; He could take the guineas and be just as free
+as he was before.&nbsp; He could even give a part of it to the funds
+of the Friends.&nbsp; There obtruded, moreover, visions of Newgate,
+and his hands slowly crept to the coins.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am a Radical, sir, and I don&rsquo;t mind who knows it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing penal in that.&nbsp; Every man has a right to his
+own political creed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The fingers crept closer and touched the gold.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If I thought you wanted to bribe me, I&rsquo;d rot before
+I had anything to do with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Commissioner smiled.&nbsp; There was no necessity to say anything
+more, for the guineas were disappearing and finally, though slowly,
+chinked down into Mr. Secretary&rsquo;s pocket.</p>
+<p>The Commissioner held out his hand.</p>
+<p>The Secretary before he took it looked loftier than ever.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you understand me, sir, clearly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I <i>do</i> understand you clearly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary shook the hand; the Commissioner went with him to the
+door.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Show this gentleman downstairs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The constable, without a look of surprise, went downstairs, and Mr.
+Secretary found himself in the street.</p>
+<p>Mr. Commissioner drank another glass of wine, and then pencilled
+something in a little memorandum book, which he put under the pistol.&nbsp;
+The drawer had two locks, and he carefully locked both with two little
+keys attached to a ribbon which he wore round his neck.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER V - THE HORIZON WIDENS</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Jean Caillaud, shoemaker, whom we have met before, commonly called
+John Kaylow, friend of the Major and member of the Society of the Friends
+of the People, was by birth a Frenchman.&nbsp; He had originally come
+to this country in 1795, bringing with him a daughter, Pauline, about
+four or five years old.&nbsp; Why he came nobody knew, nor did anybody
+know who was the mother of the child.&nbsp; He soon obtained plenty
+of employment, for he was an admirable workman, and learned to speak
+English well.&nbsp; Pauline naturally spoke both English and French.&nbsp;
+Her education was accomplished with some difficulty, though it was not
+such a task as it might have been, because Jean&rsquo;s occupation kept
+him at home; his house being in one of the streets in that complication
+of little alleys and thoroughfares to most Londoners utterly unknown;
+within the sound of St. Bride&rsquo;s nevertheless, and lying about
+a hundred yards north of Fleet Street.&nbsp; If the explorer goes up
+a court nearly opposite Bouverie Street, he will emerge from a covered
+ditch into one that is opened, about six feet wide.&nbsp; Presently
+the ditch ends in another and wider ditch running east and west.&nbsp;
+The western one turns northward, and then westward again, roofs itself
+over, squeezes itself till it becomes little less than a rectangular
+pipe, and finally discharges itself under an oil and colourman&rsquo;s
+house in Fetter Lane.&nbsp; The eastern arm, strange to say, suddenly
+expands, and one side of it, for no earthly reason, is set back with
+an open space in front of it, partitioned by low palings.&nbsp; Immediately
+beyond, as if in a fit of sudden contrition for such extravagance, the
+passage or gutter contracts itself to its very narrowest and, diving
+under a printing-office shows itself in Shoe Lane.&nbsp; The houses
+in these trenches were not by any means of the worst kind.&nbsp; In
+the aforesaid expansion they were even genteel, or at any rate aspired
+to be so, and each had its own brass knocker and kept its front-door
+shut with decent sobriety and reticence.&nbsp; On the top floor of one
+of these tenements lodged Jean Caillaud and Pauline.&nbsp; They had
+three rooms between them; one was Jean&rsquo;s bedchamber, one Pauline&rsquo;s,
+and one was workroom and living-room, where Jean made ball-slippers
+and light goods - this being his branch of the trade - and Pauline helped
+him.&nbsp; The workroom faced the north, and was exactly on a level
+with an innumerable multitude of red chimney-pots pouring forth stinking
+smoke which, for the six winter months, generally darkened the air during
+the whole day.&nbsp; But occasionally Nature resumed her rights, and
+it was possible to feel that sky, stars, sun, and moon still existed,
+and were not blotted out by the obscurations of what is called civilised
+life.&nbsp; There came, occasionally, wild nights in October or November,
+with a gale from the south-west and then, when almost everybody had
+gone to bed and the fires were out, the clouds, illuminated by the moon,
+rushed across the heavens, and the Great Bear hung over the dismal waste
+of smutty tiles with the same solemnity with which it hangs over the
+mountains, the sea, or the desert.&nbsp; Early in the morning, too,
+in summer, between three and four o&rsquo;clock in June, there were
+sights to be seen worth seeing.&nbsp; The distance was clear for miles,
+and the heights of Highgate were visible, proclaiming the gospel of
+a beyond and beyond even to Kent&rsquo;s Court, and that its immediate
+surroundings were mercifully not infinite.&nbsp; The light made even
+the nearest bit of soot-grimed, twisted, rotten brickwork beautiful,
+and occasionally, but at very rare intervals, the odour of London was
+vanquished, and a genuine breath from the Brixton fields was able to
+find its way uncontaminated across the river.&nbsp; Jean and Pauline
+were, on the whole, fond of the court.&nbsp; They often thought they
+would prefer the country, and talked about it; but it is very much to
+be doubted, if they had been placed in Devonshire, whether they would
+not have turned back uneasily after a time to their garret.&nbsp; They
+both liked the excitement of the city, and the feeling that they were
+so near to everything that was stirring in men&rsquo;s minds.&nbsp;
+The long stretch of lonely sea-shore is all very well, very beautiful,
+and, maybe, very instructive to many people; but to most persons half-an-hour&rsquo;s
+rational conversation is much more profitable.&nbsp; Pauline was not
+a particularly beautiful girl.&nbsp; Her hair was black, and, although
+there was a great deal of it, it was coarse and untidy.&nbsp; Her complexion
+was sallow - not as clear as it might be - and underneath the cheek-bones
+there were slight depressions.&nbsp; She had grown up without an attachment,
+so far as her father knew, and indeed so far as she knew.&nbsp; She
+had one redeeming virtue - redeeming especially to Jean, who was with
+her alone so much.&nbsp; She had an intellect, and it was one which
+sought for constant expression; consequently she was never dull.&nbsp;
+If she was dull, she was ill.&nbsp; She had none of that horrible mental
+constriction which makes some English women so insupportably tedious.&nbsp;
+The last thing she read, the last thing she thought, came out with vivacity
+and force, and she did not need the stimulus of a great excitement to
+reveal what was in her.&nbsp; Living as she did at work side by side
+with her father all day, she knew all his thoughts and read all his
+books.&nbsp; Neither of them ever went to church.&nbsp; They were not
+atheists, nor had they entirely pushed aside the religious questions
+which torment men&rsquo;s minds.&nbsp; They believed in what they called
+a Supreme Being, whom they thought to be just and good; but they went
+no further.&nbsp; They were revolutionary, and when Jean joined the
+Friends of the People, he and the Major and one other man became a kind
+of interior secret committee, which really directed the affairs of the
+branch.&nbsp; Companions they had none, except the Major and one or
+two compatriots; but they were drawn to Zachariah, and Zachariah was
+drawn to them, very soon after he became a member of the Society.&nbsp;
+The first time he went to Kent&rsquo;s Court with Jean was one night
+after a meeting.&nbsp; The two walked home together, and Zachariah turned
+in for an hour, as it was but ten o&rsquo;clock.&nbsp; There had been
+a grand thanksgiving at St. Paul&rsquo;s that day.&nbsp; The Prince
+Regent had returned thanks to Almighty God for the restoration of peace.&nbsp;
+The Houses of Parliament were there, with the Foreign Ambassadors, the
+City Corporation, the Duke of Wellington, Field-Marshal Blucher, peeresses,
+and society generally.&nbsp; The Royal Dukes, Sussex, Kent, York, and
+Gloucester, were each drawn by six horses and escorted by a separate
+party of the Guards.&nbsp; It took eight horses to drag the Prince himself
+to divine service, and he, too, was encompassed by soldiers.&nbsp; Arrived
+at the cathedral, he was marshalled to a kind of pew surmounted by a
+lofty crimson-and-gold canopy.&nbsp; There he sat alone, worshipped
+his Creator, and listened to a sermon by the Bishop of Chester.&nbsp;
+Neither Jean nor Pauline troubled themselves to go out, and indeed it
+would not have been of much use if they had tried; for it was by no
+means certain that Almighty God, who had been so kind as to get rid
+of Napoleon, would not permit a row in the streets.&nbsp; Consequently,
+every avenue which led to the line of the procession was strictly blocked.&nbsp;
+They heard the music from a distance, and although they both hated Bonaparte,
+it had not a pleasant sound in their ears.&nbsp; It was the sound of
+triumph over Frenchmen, and, furthermore, with all their dislike to
+the tyrant, they were proud of his genius.</p>
+<p>Walking towards Clerkenwell that evening, the streets being clear,
+save for a number of drunken men and women, who were testifying to the
+orthodoxy of their religious and political faith by rolling about the
+kennel in various stages of intoxication, Jean pressed Zachariah to
+go upstairs with him.&nbsp; Pauline had prepared supper for herself
+and her father, and a very frugal meal it was, for neither of them could
+drink beer nor spirits, and they could not afford wine.&nbsp; Pauline
+and Zachariah were duly introduced, and Zachariah looked around him.&nbsp;
+The room was not dirty, but it was extremely unlike his own.&nbsp; Shoe-making
+implements and unfinished jobs lay here and there without being &ldquo;put
+away.&rdquo;&nbsp; An old sofa served as a seat, and on it were a pair
+of lasts, a bit of a French newspaper, and a plateful of small onions
+and lettuce, which could not find a place on the little table.&nbsp;
+Zachariah, upstairs in Rosoman Street, had often felt just as if he
+were in his Sunday clothes and new boots.&nbsp; He never could make
+out what was the reason for it.&nbsp; There are some houses in which
+we are always uncomfortable.&nbsp; Our freedom is fettered, and we can
+no more take our ease in them than in a glass and china shop.&nbsp;
+We breathe with a sense of oppression, and the surroundings are like
+repellant <i>chevaux de frise</i>.&nbsp; Zachariah had no such feelings
+here.&nbsp; There was disorder, it is true; but, on the other hand,
+there was no polished tea-caddy to stare at him and claim equal rights
+against him, defying him to disturb it.&nbsp; He was asked to sit upon
+the sofa, and in so doing upset the plateful of salad upon the floor.&nbsp;
+Pauline smiled, was down upon her knees in an instant, before he could
+prevent her, picked up the vegetables and put them back again.&nbsp;
+To tell the truth, they were rather dirty; and she, therefore, washed
+them in a hand-basin.&nbsp; Zachariah asked her if she had been out
+that day.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I? - to go with the Lord Mayor and bless the good God for
+giving us back Louis Bourbon?&nbsp; No Mr. Coleman; if the good God
+did give us Louis back again, I wouldn&rsquo;t bless Him for it, and
+I don&rsquo;t think He had much to do with it.&nbsp; So there were two
+reasons why I didn&rsquo;t go.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah was a little puzzled, a little shocked, and a little out
+of his element.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I thought you might have gone to see the procession and hear
+the music.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hate processions.&nbsp; Whenever I see one, and am squeezed
+and trampled on just because those fine people may ride by, I am humiliated
+and miserable.&nbsp; As for the music, I hate that too.&nbsp; It is
+all alike, and might as well be done by machinery.&nbsp; Come, you are
+eating nothing.&nbsp; What conspiracy have you and my father hatched
+to-night?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Conspiracy!&rdquo; said Jean.&nbsp; &ldquo;Who are the conspirators?&nbsp;
+Not we.&nbsp; The conspirators are those thieves who have been to St.
+Paul&rsquo;s.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To give thanks,&rdquo; said Pauline.&nbsp; &ldquo;If I were
+up there in the sky, shouldn&rsquo;t I laugh at them.&nbsp; How comical
+it is!&nbsp; Did they give thanks for Austerlitz or Jena?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s about the worst of it,&rdquo; replied Jean.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;It is one vast plot to make the people believe lies.&nbsp; I
+shouldn&rsquo;t so much mind their robbing the country of its money
+to keep themselves comfortable, but what is the meaning of their <i>Te
+Deums</i>?&nbsp; I tell you again,&rdquo; - and he repeated the words
+with much emphasis - &ldquo;it is a vast plot to make men believe a
+lie.&nbsp; I abhor them for that ten times more than for taking my money
+to replace Louis.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; resumed Pauline, &ldquo;<i>if</i> I were only up
+in the sky for an hour, I would have thundered and lightened on them
+just as they got to the top of Ludgate Hill, and scattered a score or
+so of them.&nbsp; I wonder if they would have thanked Providence for
+their escape?&nbsp; O father, such a joke!&nbsp; The Major told me the
+other day of an old gentleman he knew who was riding along in his carriage.&nbsp;
+A fireball fell and killed the coachman.&nbsp; The old gentleman, talking
+about it afterwards, said that &ldquo;<i>providentially</i> it struck
+the box-seat.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah, although a firm believer in his faith, and not a coward,
+was tempted to be silent.&nbsp; He was heavy and slow in action, and
+this kind of company was strange to him.&nbsp; Furthermore, Pauline
+was not an open enemy, and notwithstanding her little blasphemies, she
+was attractive.&nbsp; But then he remembered with shame that he was
+ordered to testify to the truth wherever he might be, and unable to
+find anything of his own by which he could express himself, a text of
+the Bible came into his mind, and, half to himself, he repeated it aloud:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create
+evil; I the Lord do all these things.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is that?&rdquo; said Jean.&nbsp; &ldquo;Repeat it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah slowly repeated it.&nbsp; He had intended to add to it
+something which might satisfy his conscience and rebuke Pauline, but
+he could not.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Whence is that?&rdquo; said Jean.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;From the Bible; give me one and I will show it to you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was no English Bible in the house.&nbsp; It was a book not
+much used; but Pauline presently produced a French version, and Jean
+read the passage - &ldquo;<i>Qui forme la lumi&egrave;re, et qui cr&eacute;e
+les t&eacute;n&egrave;bres</i>; <i>qui fait la paix, et qui cr&eacute;e
+l&rsquo;adversit&eacute;</i>; <i>c&rsquo;est moi, l&rsquo;Eternel, qui
+fais toutes les choses l&agrave;</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pauline bent over her father and read it again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Qui cr&eacute;e l&rsquo;adversit&eacute;</i>,&rdquo; she
+said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Do you believe that?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If it is there I do,&rdquo; said Zachariah.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s adversity to hell fire?&nbsp; If He made hell-fire,
+why not adversity?&nbsp; Besides, if He did not, who did?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t know a bit, and don&rsquo;t mean to bother myself
+about it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Right!&rdquo; broke in Jean - &ldquo;right, my child; bother
+- that is a good word.&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t bother yourself about anything
+when - bothering will not benefit.&nbsp; There is so much in the world
+which will - bear a botheration out of which some profit will arise.&nbsp;
+Now, then, clear the room, and let Zachariah see your art.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The plates and dishes were all put in a heap and the table pushed
+aside.&nbsp; Pauline retired for a few moments, and presently came back
+in a short dress of black velvet, which reached about half-way down
+from the knee to the ankle.&nbsp; It was trimmed with red; she had stuck
+a red artificial flower in her hair, and had on a pair of red stockings
+with dancing slippers, probably of her own make.&nbsp; Over her shoulders
+was a light gauzy shawl.&nbsp; Her father took his station in a corner,
+and motioned to Zachariah to compress himself into another.&nbsp; By
+dint of some little management and piling up the chairs an unoccupied
+space of about twelve feet square was obtained.&nbsp; Pauline began
+dancing, her father accompanying her with an oboe.&nbsp; It was a very
+curious performance.&nbsp; It was nothing like ordinary opera-dancing,
+and equally unlike any movement ever seen at a ball.&nbsp; It was a
+series of graceful evolutions with the shawl which was flung, now on
+one shoulder and now on the other, each movement exquisitely resolving
+itself, with the most perfect ease, into the one following, and designed
+apparently to show the capacity of a beautiful figure for poetic expression.&nbsp;
+Wave fell into wave along every line of her body, and occasionally a
+posture was arrested, to pass away in an instant into some new combination.&nbsp;
+There was no definite character in the dance beyond mere beauty.&nbsp;
+It was melody for melody&rsquo;s sake.&nbsp; A remarkable change, too,
+came over the face of the performer.&nbsp; She looked serious; but it
+was not a seriousness produced by any strain.&nbsp; It was rather the
+calm which is found on the face of the statue of a goddess.&nbsp; In
+none of her attitudes was there a trace of coquettishness, although
+some were most attractive.&nbsp; One in particular was so.&nbsp; She
+held a corner of the shawl high above her with her right hand, and her
+right foot was advanced so as to show her whole frame extended excepting
+the neck; the head being bent downward and sideways.</p>
+<p>Suddenly Jean ceased; Pauline threw the shawl over both her shoulders,
+made a profound curtsey, and retired; but in five minutes she was back
+again in her ordinary clothes.&nbsp; Zachariah was in sore confusion.&nbsp;
+He had never seen anything of the kind before.</p>
+<p>He had been brought up in a school which would have considered such
+an exhibition as the work of the devil.&nbsp; He was distressed too
+to find that the old Adam was still so strong within him that he detected
+a secret pleasure in what he had seen.&nbsp; He would have liked to
+have got up and denounced Jean and Pauline, but somehow he could not.&nbsp;
+His great great grandfather would have done it, beyond a doubt, but
+Zachariah sat still.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you ever perform in public?&rdquo; he asked.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&nbsp; I was taught when I was very young; but I have never
+danced except to please father and his friends.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>This was a relief, and some kind of an excuse.&nbsp; He felt not
+quite such a reprobate; but again he reflected that when he was looking
+at her he did not know that she was not in a theatre every night in
+the week.&nbsp; He expected that Jean would offer some further explanation
+of the unusual accomplishment which his daughter had acquired; but he
+was silent, and Zachariah rose to depart, for it was eleven o&rsquo;clock.&nbsp;
+Jean apparently was a little restless at the absence of approval on
+Zachariah&rsquo;s part, and at last he said abruptly:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you think of her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah hesitated, and Pauline came to the rescue.&nbsp; &ldquo;Father,
+what a shame!&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t put him in such an awkward position.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was very wonderful,&rdquo; stammered Zachariah, &ldquo;but
+we are not used to that kind of thing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who are the &lsquo;we&rsquo;?&rdquo; said Pauline.&nbsp; &ldquo;Ah,
+of course you are Puritans.&nbsp; I am a - what do you call it? - a
+daughter, no, that isn&rsquo;t it - a child of the devil.&nbsp; I won&rsquo;t
+have that though.&nbsp; My father isn&rsquo;t the devil.&nbsp; Even
+<i>you</i> wouldn&rsquo;t say that, Mr. Coleman.&nbsp; Ah, I have no
+business to joke, you look so solemn; you think my tricks are satanic;
+but what was it in your book, &lsquo;<i>C&rsquo;est moi, l&rsquo;Eternel,
+qui fais toutes les choses l&agrave;</i>&rsquo;?&rdquo; and as Zachariah
+advanced to the doors he made him a bow with a grace which no lady of
+quality could have surpassed.</p>
+<p>He walked home with many unusual thoughts.&nbsp; It was the first
+time he had ever been in the company of a woman of any liveliness of
+temperament, and with an intellect which was on equal terms with that
+of a man.&nbsp; In his own Calvinistic Dissenting society the pious
+women who were members of the church took little or no interest in the
+mental life of their husband.&nbsp; They read no books, knew nothing
+of politics, were astonishingly ignorant, and lived in their household
+duties.&nbsp; To be with a woman who could stand up against him was
+a new experience.&nbsp; Here was a girl to whom every thought her father
+possessed was familiar!</p>
+<p>But there was another experience.&nbsp; From his youth upwards he
+had been trained with every weapon in the chapel armoury, and yet he
+now found himself as powerless as the merest novice to prevent the very
+sinful occupation of dwelling upon every attitude of Pauline, and outlining
+every one of her limbs.&nbsp; Do what he might, her image was for ever
+before his eyes, and reconstructed itself after every attempt to abolish
+it, just as a reflected image in a pool slowly but inevitably gathers
+itself together again after each disturbance of the water.&nbsp; When
+he got home, he found, to his surprise, that his wife was still sitting
+up.&nbsp; She had been to the weekly prayer-meeting, and was not in
+a very pleasant temper.&nbsp; She was not spiteful, but unusually frigid.&nbsp;
+She felt herself to be better than her husband, and she asked him if
+he could not arrange in future that his political meetings might not
+interfere with his religious duties.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your absence, too, was noticed, and Mrs. Carver asked me how
+it was that Mr. Coleman could let me go home alone.&nbsp; She offered
+to tell Mr. Carver to come home with me; but I refused.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Delightfully generous of Mrs. Carver!&nbsp; That was the sort of
+kindness for which she and many of her Pike Street friends were so distinguished;
+and Mrs. Coleman not only felt it deeply, but was glad of the opportunity
+of letting Mr. Coleman know how good the Carvers were.</p>
+<p>It was late, but Mrs. Coleman produced the Bible.&nbsp; Zachariah
+opened it rather mechanically.&nbsp; They were going regularly through
+it at family worship, and had got into Numbers.&nbsp; The portion for
+that evening was part of the 26th chapter: &ldquo;And these are they
+that were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon,
+the family of the Gershonites: of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites:
+of Merari, the family of the Merarites,&rdquo; &amp;c., &amp;c.&nbsp;
+Zachariah, having read about a dozen verses, knelt down and prayed;
+but, alas, even in his prayer he saw Pauline&rsquo;s red stockings.</p>
+<p>The next morning his wife was more pleasant, and even talkative -
+talkative, that is to say, for her.&nbsp; Something had struck her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; quoth she, as they sat at breakfast, &ldquo;what
+a pity it is that the Major is not a converted character!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah could not but think so too.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have been wondering if we could get him to attend our chapel.&nbsp;
+Who knows? - some word might go to his heart which might be as the seed
+sown on good ground.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you tried to convert him yourself?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no, Zachariah!&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t think that would be
+quite proper.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She screwed up her lips a little, and then, looking down at her knees
+very demurely, smoothed her apron.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why not, my dear?&nbsp; Surely it is our duty to testify to
+the belief that is in us.&nbsp; Poor Christiana, left alone, says, as
+you will remember, &lsquo;O neighbour, knew you but as much as I do,
+I doubt not but that you would go with me.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, yes, that was all very well then.&rdquo;&nbsp; She again
+smoothed her apron.&nbsp; &ldquo;Besides, you know,&rdquo; she added
+suddenly, &ldquo;there were no public means of grace in the City of
+Destruction.&nbsp; Have <i>you</i> said anything to the Major?&ldquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She did not push her advantage, and the unpleasant fact again stood
+before Zachariah&rsquo;s eyes, as it had stood a hundred times before
+them lately, that when he had been with sinners he had been just what
+they were, barring the use of profane language.&nbsp; What had he done
+for his master with the Major, with Jean, and with Pauline? - and the
+awful figure of the Crucified seemed to rise before him and rebuke him.&nbsp;
+He was wretched: he had resolved over and over again to break out against
+those who belonged to the world, to abjure them and all their works.&nbsp;
+Somehow or other, though, he had not done it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Suppose,&rdquo; said Mrs. Zachariah, &ldquo;we were to ask
+the Major here on Sunday afternoon to tea, and to chapel afterwards.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly.&rdquo;&nbsp; He was rather pleased with the proposition.&nbsp;
+He would be able to bear witness in this way at any rate to the truth.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps we might at the same time ask Jean Caillaud, his friend.&nbsp;
+Would to God&rdquo; - his wife started - &ldquo;would to God,&rdquo;
+he exclaimed fervently, &ldquo;that these men could be brought into
+the Church of Christ!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To be sure.&nbsp; Ask Mr. Caillaud, then, too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;If we do, we must ask his daughter also; he would not go out
+without her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was not aware he had a daughter.&nbsp; You never told me
+anything about her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I never saw her till the other evening.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know anything of her.&nbsp; She is a foreigner
+too.&nbsp; I hope she is a respectable young person.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know very little; but she is more English than foreign.&nbsp;
+Jean has been here a good many years, and she came over when she was
+quite young.&nbsp; I think she must come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Very well.&rdquo;&nbsp; And so it was settled.</p>
+<p>Zachariah that night vowed to his Redeemer that, come what might,
+he would never again give Him occasion to look at him with averted face
+and ask if he was ashamed of Him.&nbsp; The text ran in his ears: &ldquo;<i>Whosoever
+therefore shall be ashamed of me and of My words in this adulterous
+and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed,
+when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI - TEA &Agrave; LA MODE</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Sunday afternoon came.&nbsp; It was the strangest party.&nbsp; Pauline,
+on being introduced to Mrs. Coleman, made a profound curtsey, which
+Mrs. Coleman returned by an inclination of her head, as if she consented
+to recognise Pauline, but to go no further.&nbsp; Tea was served early,
+as chapel began at half-past six.&nbsp; Mrs. Coleman, although it was
+Sunday, was very busy.&nbsp; She had made hot buttered toast, and she
+had bought some muffins, but had appeased her conscience by telling
+the boy that she would not pay for them till Monday.&nbsp; The milk
+was always obtained on the same terms.&nbsp; She also purchased some
+water-cresses; but the water-cress man demanded prompt cash settlement,
+and she was in a strait.&nbsp; At last the desire for the water-cresses
+prevailed, and she said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How much?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Three-halfpence.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, mind I give you twopence for yourself - mind I give it
+you.&nbsp; I do not approve of buying and selling on Sunday.&nbsp; We
+will settle about the other ha&rsquo;porth another time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All right, ma&rsquo;am; if you like it that way, it&rsquo;s
+no odds to me;&rdquo; and Mrs. Coleman went her way upstairs really
+believing that she had prevented the commission of a crime.</p>
+<p>Let those of us cast the stone who can take oath that in their own
+morality there is no casuistry.&nbsp; Probably ours is worse than hers,
+because hers was traditional and ours is self-manufactured.</p>
+<p>Everything being at last in order, Mrs. Coleman, looking rather warm,
+but still very neat and very charming, sat at the head of the table,
+with her back to the fireplace; the Major was on her right, Jean on
+her left, Pauline next to him, and opposite to her Zachariah.&nbsp;
+Zachariah and his wife believed in asking a blessing on their food;
+but, curiously enough, in 1814, even amongst the strictest sort, it
+had come to be the custom not to ask it at breakfast or tea, but only
+at dinner; although breakfast and tea in those days certainly needed
+a blessing as much as dinner, for they were substantial meals.&nbsp;
+An exception was made in favour of public tea-meetings.&nbsp; At a public
+tea-meeting a blessing was always asked and a hymn was always sung.</p>
+<p>For some time nothing remarkable was said.&nbsp; The weather was
+very hot, and Mrs. Coleman complained.&nbsp; It had been necessary to
+keep up a fire for the sake of the kettle.&nbsp; The Major promptly
+responded to her confession of faintness by opening the window wider,
+by getting a shawl to put over the back of her chair; and these little
+attentions she rewarded by smiles and particular watchfulness over his
+plate and cup.&nbsp; At last he and Jean fell to talking about the jubilee
+which was to take place on the first of the next month to celebrate
+the centenary of the &ldquo;accession of the illustrious family of Brunswick
+to the throne&rdquo; - so ran the public notice.&nbsp; There was to
+be a grand display in the parks, a sham naval action on the Serpentine,
+and a balloon ascent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going, Caillaud?&rdquo; said the Major.&nbsp; &ldquo;It
+will be a holiday.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We,&rdquo; cried Pauline - &ldquo;we!&nbsp; I should think
+not.&nbsp; <i>We</i> go to rejoice over your House of Brunswick; and
+it is to be the anniversary of your battle of the Nile too!&nbsp; <i>We</i>
+go!&nbsp; No, no.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your objection to the House of Brunswick?&nbsp;
+And as for the battle of the Nile, you are no friend to Napoleon.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+So replied the Major, who always took a pleasure in exciting Pauline.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The House of Brunswick!&nbsp; Why should we thank God for
+them; thank God for the stupidest race that ever sat upon a throne;
+thank God for stupidity - and in a king, Major?&nbsp; God, the Maker
+of the sun and stars - to call upon the nation to bless Him for your
+Prince Regent.&nbsp; As for the Nile, I am, as you say, no friend to
+Napoleon, but I am French.&nbsp; It is horrible to me to think - I saw
+him the other day - that your Brunswick Prince is in London and Napoleon
+is in Elba.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;God, after all,&rdquo; said the Major, laughing, &ldquo;is
+not so hostile to stupidity, then; as you suppose.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah! don&rsquo;t plague me, Major; that&rsquo;s what you are
+always trying to do.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m not going to thank the Supreme
+for the Brunswicks.&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t believe He wanted them here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pauline&rsquo;s religion was full of the most lamentable inconsistencies,
+which the Major was very fond of exposing, but without much effect,
+and her faith was restored after every assault with wonderful celerity.&nbsp;
+By way of excuse for her we may be permitted to say that a perfectly
+consistent, unassailable creed, in which conclusion follows from premiss
+in unimpeachable order, is impossible.&nbsp; We cannot construct such
+a creed about any man or woman we know, and least of all about the universe.&nbsp;
+We acknowledge opposites which we have no power to bring together; and
+Pauline, although she knew nothing of philosophy, may not have been
+completely wrong with her Supreme who hated the Brunswicks and nevertheless
+sanctioned Carlton House.</p>
+<p>Pauline surprised Mrs. Zachariah considerably.&nbsp; A woman, and
+more particularly a young woman, even supposing her to be quite orthodox,
+who behaved in that style amongst the members of Pike Street, would
+have been like a wild seagull in a farmyard of peaceful, clucking, brown-speckled
+fowls.&nbsp; All the chapel maidens and matrons, of course, were serious;
+but their seriousness was decent and in order.&nbsp; Mrs. Coleman was
+therefore scandalised, nervous, and dumb.&nbsp; Jean, as his manner
+was when his daughter expressed herself strongly, was also silent.&nbsp;
+His love for her was a consuming, hungry fire.&nbsp; It utterly extinguished
+all trace, not merely of selfishness, but of self, in him, and he was
+perfectly content, when Pauline spoke well, to remain quiet, and not
+allow a word of his to disturb the effect which he thought she ought
+to produce.</p>
+<p>The Major, as a man of the world, thought the conversation was becoming
+a little too metaphysical, and asked Mrs. Coleman gaily if she would
+like to see the <i>f&ecirc;te.</i></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really, I hardly know what to say.&nbsp; I suppose&rdquo;
+- and this was said with a peculiar acidity - &ldquo;there is nothing
+wrong in it?&nbsp; Zachariah, my dear, would you like to go?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah did not reply.&nbsp; His thoughts were elsewhere.&nbsp;
+But at last the spirit moved in him:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Miss Pauline, your Supreme Being won&rsquo;t help you very
+far.&nbsp; There is no light save in God&rsquo;s Holy Word.&nbsp; God
+hath concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all.&nbsp;
+As by one man&rsquo;s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
+obedience of One shall many be made righteous.&nbsp; That is the explanation;
+that is the gospel.&nbsp; God allows all this wickedness that His own
+glory may be manifested thereby, and His own love in sending Jesus Christ
+to save us: that, as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace
+reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.&nbsp;
+Do you ask me why does God wink at the crimes of kings and murderers?&nbsp;
+What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known,
+endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
+and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels
+of mercy which He had afore prepared unto glory, even us whom He had
+called?&nbsp; Miss Pauline, the mere light of human reason will never
+save you or give you peace.&nbsp; Unless you believe God&rsquo;s Word
+you are lost; lost here and hereafter; lost <i>here</i> even, for until
+you believe it you wander in a fog of ever deepening confusion.&nbsp;
+All is dark and inexplicable.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Being very much excited, he used largely the words of St. Paul, and
+not his own.&nbsp; How clear it all seemed to him, how indisputable!&nbsp;
+Childish association and years of unquestioning repetition gave an absolute
+certainty to what was almost unmeaning to other people.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Zachariah, although she had expressed a strong desire for the
+Major&rsquo;s conversion, and was the only other representative of the
+chapel present, was very fidgety and uncomfortable during this speech.&nbsp;
+She had an exquisite art, which she sometimes practised, of dropping
+her husband, or rather bringing him down.&nbsp; So, when there was a
+pause, everybody being moved at least by his earnestness, she said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear, will you take any more tea?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was looking on the table-cloth, with his head on his hands, and
+did not answer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Major Maitland, may I give you some more tea?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, thank you.&rdquo;&nbsp; The Major too was impressed -
+more impressed than the lady who sat next to him, and she felt rebuffed
+and annoyed.&nbsp; To Pauline, Zachariah had spoken Hebrew; but his
+passion was human, and her heart leapt out to meet him, although she
+knew not what answer to make.&nbsp; Her father was in the same position;
+but the Major&rsquo;s case was a little different.&nbsp; He had certainly
+at some time or other read the Epistle to the Romans, and some expressions
+were not entirely unfamiliar to him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Vessels of wrath fitted to destruction!&rsquo; - a
+strong and noble phrase.&nbsp; Who are your vessels of wrath, Coleman?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Caillaud and Pauline saw a little light, but it was speedily eclipsed
+again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The unregenerate.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who are they?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Those whom God has not called.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Castlereagh, Liverpool, Sidmouth, and the rest of the gang,
+for example?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah felt that the moment had come.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, yes; but not only they.&nbsp; More than they.&nbsp; God
+help me if I deny the Cross of Christ - all of us into whose hearts
+God&rsquo;s grace has not been poured - we, you, all of us, if we have
+not been born of the Spirit and redeemed by the sacrifice of His Son.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah put in the &ldquo;us&rdquo; and the &ldquo;we,&rdquo; it
+will be observed.&nbsp; It was a concession to blunt the sharpness of
+that dreadful dividing-line.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We?&nbsp; Not yourself, Caillaud, and Pauline?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He could not face the question.&nbsp; Something within him said that
+he ought to have gone further; that he ought to have singled out the
+Major, Caillaud, and Pauline; held them fast, looked straight into their
+eyes, and told them each one there and then that they were in the bonds
+of iniquity, sold unto Satan, and in danger of hell-fire.&nbsp; But,
+alas! he was at least a century and a half too late.&nbsp; He struggled,
+wrestled, self against self, and failed, not through want of courage,
+but because he wanted a deeper conviction.&nbsp; The system was still
+the same, even to its smallest details, but the application had become
+difficult.&nbsp; The application, indeed, was a good deal left to the
+sinner himself.&nbsp; That was the difference.&nbsp; Phrases had been
+invented or discovered which served to express modern hesitation to
+bring the accepted doctrine into actual, direct, week-day practice.&nbsp;
+It was in that way that it was gradually bled into impotence.&nbsp;
+One of these phrases came into his mind.&nbsp; It was from his favourite
+author:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Who art thou that judgest?&rsquo;&nbsp; It is not for
+me, Major Maitland.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ah, but, Zachariah, do you not remember that Paul is not speaking
+of those who deny the Lord, but of the weak in faith; of differences
+in eating and drinking, and the observation of days?&nbsp; Whether he
+remembered it or not, he could say no more.&nbsp; Caillaud, the Major,
+Pauline, condemned to the everlasting consequences of the wrath of the
+Almighty!&nbsp; He could not pronounce such a sentence, and yet his
+conscience whispered that just for want of the last nail in a sure place
+what he had built would come tumbling to the ground.&nbsp; During the
+conversation the time had stolen away, and, to their horror, Zachariah
+and his wife discovered that it was a quarter-past six.&nbsp; He hastily
+informed his guests that he had hoped they would attend him to his chapel.&nbsp;
+Would they go?&nbsp; The Major consented.&nbsp; He had nothing particular
+on hand, but Caillaud and Pauline refused.&nbsp; Zachariah was particularly
+urgent that these two should accompany him, but they were steadfast,
+for all set religious performances were hateful to them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, Coleman, no more; I know what it all means.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And I,&rdquo; added Pauline, &ldquo;cannot sit still with
+so many respectable people; I never could.&nbsp; I have been to church,
+and always felt impelled to do something peculiar in it which would
+have made them turn me out.&nbsp; I cannot, too, endure preaching.&nbsp;
+I cannot tolerate that man up in the pulpit looking down over all the
+people - so wise and so self-satisfied.&nbsp; I want to pull him out
+and say.&nbsp; &lsquo;Here, you, sir, come here and let me see if you
+can tell me two or three things I want to know.&rsquo;&nbsp; Then, Mr.
+Coleman, I am never well in a great building, especially in a church;
+I have such a weight upon my head as if the roof were resting on it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He looked mournfully at her, but there was no time to remonstrate.&nbsp;
+Mrs. Zachariah was ready, in her Sunday best of sober bluish cloud-colour.&nbsp;
+Although it was her Sunday best, there was not a single thread of finery
+on it, and there was not a single crease nor spot.&nbsp; She bade Caillaud
+and Pauline good-bye with much cheerfulness, and tripped downstairs.&nbsp;
+The Major had preceded her, but Zachariah lingered for a moment with
+the other two.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come, my dear, make haste, we shall be so late.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Go on with the Major; I shall catch you in a moment; I walk
+faster than you.&nbsp; I must close the window a trifle, and take two
+or three of the coals off the fire.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Caillaud and Pauline lingered too.&nbsp; The three were infinitely
+nearer to one another than they knew.&nbsp; Zachariah thought he was
+so far, and yet he was so close.&nbsp; The man rose up behind the Calvinist,
+and reached out arms to touch and embrace his friends.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye, Caillaud; good-bye, Pauline!&nbsp; May God in His
+mercy bless and save you.&nbsp; God bless you!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Caillaud looked steadfastly at him for a moment. and then, in his
+half-forgotten French fashion, threw his arms round his neck, and the
+two remained for a moment locked together, Pauline standing by herself
+apart.&nbsp; She came forward, took Zachariah&rsquo;s hand, when it
+was free, in both her own, held her head back a little, as if for clearness
+of survey, and said slowly, &ldquo;God bless you, Mr. Coleman.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+She then went downstairs.&nbsp; Her father followed her, and Zachariah
+went after his wife and the Major, whom, however, he did not overtake
+till he reached the chapel door, where they were both waiting for him.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII - JEPHTHAH</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>The Reverend Thomas Bradshaw, of Pike Street Meeting-House, was not
+a descendant from Bradshaw the regicide, but claimed that he belonged
+to the same family.&nbsp; He was in 1814 about fifty years old, and
+minister of one of the most important churches in the eastern part of
+London.&nbsp; He was tall and spare, and showed his height in the pulpit,
+for he always spoke without a note, and used a small Bible, which he
+held close to his eyes.&nbsp; He was a good classical scholar, and he
+understood Hebrew, too, as well as few men in that day understood it.&nbsp;
+He had a commanding figure, ruled his church like a despot; had a crowded
+congregation, of which the larger portion was masculine; and believed
+in predestination and the final perseverance of the saints.&nbsp; He
+was rather unequal in his discourses, for he had a tendency to moodiness,
+and, at times, even to hypochondria.&nbsp; When this temper was upon
+him he was combative or melancholy; and sometimes, to the disgust of
+many who came from all parts of London to listen to him, he did not
+preach in the proper sense of the word, but read a chapter, made a comment
+or two upon it, caused a hymn to be sung, and then dismissed his congregation
+with the briefest of prayers.&nbsp; Although he took no active part
+in politics, he was republican through and through, and never hesitated
+for a moment in those degenerate days to say what he thought about any
+scandal.&nbsp; In this respect he differed from his fellow-ministers,
+who, under the pretence of increasing zeal for religion, had daily fewer
+and fewer points of contact with the world outside.&nbsp; Mr. Bradshaw
+had been married when he was about thirty; but his wife died in giving
+birth to a daughter, who also died, - and for twenty years he had been
+a widower, with no thought of changing his condition.&nbsp; He was understood
+to have peculiar opinions about second marriages, although he kept them
+very much to himself.&nbsp; One thing, however, was known, that for
+a twelvemonth after the death of his wife he was away from England,
+and that he came back an altered man to his people in Bedfordshire,
+where at that time he was settled.&nbsp; His discourses were remarkably
+strong, and of a kind seldom, or indeed never, heard now.&nbsp; They
+taxed the whole mental powers of his audience, and were utterly unlike
+the simple stuff which became fashionable with the Evangelistic movement.&nbsp;
+Many of them, taken down by some of his hearers, survive in manuscript
+to the present day.&nbsp; They will not, as a rule, bear printing, because
+the assumption on which they rest is not now assumed; but if it be granted,
+they are unanswerable; and it is curious that even now and then, although
+they are never for a moment anything else than a strict deduction from
+what we in the latter half of the century consider unproven or even
+false, they express themselves in the same terms as the newest philosophy.&nbsp;
+Occasionally too, more particularly when he sets himself the task of
+getting into the interior of a Bible character, he is intensely dramatic,
+and what are shadows to the careless reader become living human beings,
+with the reddest of blood visible under their skin.</p>
+<p>On this particular evening Mr. Bradshaw took the story of Jephthah&rsquo;s
+daughter: - &ldquo;The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Here is an abstract of his discourse.&nbsp; &ldquo;It <i>was</i> the
+Spirit of the Lord, notwithstanding what happened.&nbsp; I beg you also
+to note that there is a mistranslation in our version.&nbsp; The Hebrew
+has it, &lsquo;Then it shall be, that <i>whosoever</i>&rsquo; - not
+<i>whatsoever</i> - &lsquo;cometh forth of the doors of my house to
+meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely
+be the Lord&rsquo;s, and I will offer <i>him</i>&rsquo; - not <i>it</i>
+- &lsquo;up for a burnt-offering.&rsquo;&nbsp; Nevertheless I believe
+my text - it <i>was</i> the Spirit of the Lord.&nbsp; This Hebrew soldier
+was the son of a harlot.&nbsp; He was driven by his brethren out of
+his father&rsquo;s house.&nbsp; Ammon made war upon Israel, and in their
+distress the elders of Israel went to fetch Jephthah.&nbsp; Mark, my
+friends, God&rsquo;s election.&nbsp; The children of the lawful wife
+are passed by, and the child of the harlot is chosen.&nbsp; Jephthah
+forgets his grievances and becomes captain of the host.&nbsp; Ammon
+is over against them.&nbsp; Jephthah&rsquo;s rash vow - this is sometimes
+called.&nbsp; I say it is not a rash vow.&nbsp; It may be rash to those
+who have never been brought to extremity by the children of Ammon -
+to those who have not cared whether Ammon or Christ wins.&nbsp; Men
+and women sitting here in comfortable pews&rdquo; - this was said with
+a kind of snarl - &ldquo;may talk of Jephthah&rsquo;s rash vow.&nbsp;
+God be with them, what do they know of the struggles of such a soul?&nbsp;
+It does not say so directly in the Bible, but we are led to infer it,
+that Jephthah was successful because of his vow.&nbsp; &lsquo;The Lord
+delivered them into his hands.&rsquo;&nbsp; He would not have done it
+if He had been displeased with the &lsquo;rash vow&rsquo;&rdquo; (another
+snarl).&nbsp; &ldquo;He smote them from Aroer even till thou come to
+Minnith.&nbsp; Ah, but what follows?&nbsp; The Omnipotent and Omniscient
+might have ordered it, surely, that a slave might have met Jephthah.&nbsp;
+Why, in His mercy, did He not do it?&nbsp; Who are we that we should
+question what He did?&nbsp; But if we may not inquire too closely into
+His designs, it is permitted us, my friends, when His reason accords
+with ours, to try and show it.&nbsp; Jephthah had played for a great
+stake.&nbsp; Ought the Almighty - let us speak it with reverence - to
+have let him off with an ox, or even with a serf?&nbsp; I say that if
+we are to conquer Ammon we must pay for it, and we ought to pay for
+it.&nbsp; Yes, and perhaps God wanted the girl - who can tell?&nbsp;
+Jephthah comes back in triumph.&nbsp; Let me read the passage to you:
+- &lsquo;Behold his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and
+with dances: <i>and she was his only child: beside her he had neither
+son nor daughter</i>.&nbsp; And it came to pass, when he saw her, that
+he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought
+me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened
+my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.&rsquo;&nbsp; Now, you
+read poetry, I dare say - what you call poetry.&nbsp; I say in all of
+it - all, at least, I have seen - nothing comes up to that.&nbsp; &lsquo;<i>She
+was his only child: beside her he had neither son nor daughter</i>.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+- (Mr. Bradshaw&rsquo;s voice broke a little as he went over the words
+again with great deliberation and infinite pathos.) - &ldquo;The inspired
+writer leaves the fact just as it stands, and is content.&nbsp; Inspiration
+itself can do nothing to make it more touching than it is in its own
+bare nakedness.&nbsp; There is no thought in Jephthah of recantation,
+nor in the maiden of revolt, but nevertheless he has his own sorrow.&nbsp;
+<i>He is brought very low</i>.&nbsp; God does not rebuke him for his
+grief.&nbsp; He knows well enough, my dear friends, the nature which
+He took upon Himself - nay, are we not the breath of His nostrils, created
+in His image?&nbsp; He does not anywhere, therefore, I say, forbid that
+we should even break our hearts over those we love and lose.&nbsp; She
+asks for two months by herself upon the mountains before her death.&nbsp;
+What a time for him!&nbsp; At the end of the two months God held him
+still to his vow; he did not shrink; she submitted, and was slain.&nbsp;
+But you will want me to tell you in conclusion where the gospel is in
+all this.&nbsp; Gospel!&nbsp; I say that the blessed gospel is in the
+Old Testament as well as in the New.&nbsp; I say that the Word of God
+is one, and that His message is here this night for you and me, as distinctly
+as it is at the end of the sacred volume.&nbsp; Observe, as I have told
+you before, that Jephthah is the son of the harlot.&nbsp; He hath mercy
+on whom He will have mercy.&nbsp; He calls them His people who are not
+His people; and He calls her beloved which was not beloved.&nbsp; God
+at any rate is no stickler for hereditary rights.&nbsp; Moreover, it
+does not follow because you, my hearers, have God-fearing parents, that
+God has elected you.&nbsp; He may have chosen, instead of you, instead
+of me, the wretchedest creature outside, whose rags we will not touch.&nbsp;
+But to what did God elect Jephthah?&nbsp; To a respectable, easy, decent
+existence, with money at interest, regular meals, sleep after them,
+and unbroken rest at night?&nbsp; He elected him to that tremendous
+oath and that tremendous penalty.&nbsp; He elected him to the agony
+he endured while she was away upon the hills!&nbsp; That is God&rsquo;s
+election; an election to the cross and to the cry, &lsquo;Eli, Eli,
+lama Sabachthani.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; you will say, &lsquo;but
+He elected him to the victory over Ammon.&rsquo;&nbsp; Doubtless He
+did; but what cared Jephthah for his victory over Ammon when she came
+to meet him, or, indeed, for the rest of his life?&nbsp; What is a victory,
+what are triumphal arches and the praise of all creation to a lonely
+man?&nbsp; Be sure, if God elects you, He elects you to suffering.&nbsp;
+Whom He loveth He chasteneth, and His stripes are not play-work.&nbsp;
+Ammon will not be conquered unless your heart be well nigh broken.&nbsp;
+I tell you, too, as Christ&rsquo;s minister, that you are not to direct
+your course according to your own desires.&nbsp; You are not to say,
+-&lsquo;I will give up this and that so that I may be saved.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+Did not St. Paul wish himself accursed from Christ for his brethren?&nbsp;
+If God should command you to go down to the bottomless pit in fulfilment
+of His blessed designs, it is your place to go.&nbsp; Out with self
+- I was about to say this damned self; and if Israel calls, if Christ
+calls, take not a sheep or ox - that is easy enough - but take your
+choicest possession, take your own heart, your own blood, your very
+self, to the altar.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>During the sermon the Major was much excited.&nbsp; Apart altogether
+from the effect of the actual words spoken, Mr: Bradshaw had a singular
+and contagious power over men.&nbsp; The three, Mrs. Coleman, the Major,
+and Zachariah, came out together.&nbsp; Mrs. Zachariah stayed behind
+in the lobby for some female friend to whom she wished to speak about
+a Sunday-school tea-meeting which was to take place that week.&nbsp;
+The other two stood aside, ill at ease, amongst the crowd pressing out
+into the street.&nbsp; Presently Mrs. Coleman found her friend, whom
+she at once informed that Major Maitland and her husband were waiting
+for her, and that therefore she had not a moment to spare.&nbsp; That
+little triumph accomplished, she had nothing of importance to say about
+the tea-meeting, and rejoined her party with great good-humour.&nbsp;
+She walked between the Major and Zachariah, and at once asked the Major
+how he &ldquo;enjoyed the service.&rdquo;&nbsp; The phrase was very
+unpleasant to Zachariah, but he was silent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, ma&rsquo;am,&rdquo; said the Major, &ldquo;Mr. Bradshaw
+is a very remarkable man.&nbsp; It is a long time since any speaker
+stirred me as he did.&nbsp; He is a born orator, if ever there was one.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I could have wished,&rdquo; said Zachariah, &ldquo;as you
+are not often in chapel, that his sermon had been founded on some passage
+in the New Testament which would have given him the opportunity of more
+simply expounding the gospel of Christ.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He could not have been better, I should think.&nbsp; He went
+to my heart, though it is rather a difficult passage in the case of
+a man about town like me; and I tell you what, Coleman, he made me determine
+I would read the Bible again.&nbsp; What a story that is!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Major, I thank God if you will read it; and not for the stories
+in it, save as all are part of one story - the story of God&rsquo;s
+redeeming mercy.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Major made no reply, for the word was unwinged.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Zachariah was silent, but when they came to their door both
+she and her husband pressed him to come in.&nbsp; He refused, however;
+he would stroll homeward, he said, and have a smoke as he went.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He touched me, Coleman, he did.&nbsp; I thought, between you
+and me&rdquo; - and he spoke softly - &ldquo;I had not now got such
+a tender place; I thought it was all healed over long ago.&nbsp; I cannot
+come in.&nbsp; You&rsquo;ll excuse me.&nbsp; Yes, I&rsquo;ll just wander
+back to Piccadilly.&nbsp; I could not talk.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They parted, and Zachariah and his wife went upstairs.&nbsp; Their
+supper was soon ready.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Jane,&rdquo; he said slowly, &ldquo;I did not receive much
+assistance from you in my endeavours to bring our friends to a knowledge
+of the truth.&nbsp; I thought that, as you desired the attempt, you
+would have helped me a little.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is a reason for everything; and, what is more, I do
+not consider it right to take upon myself what belongs to a minister.&nbsp;
+It may do more harm than good.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take upon yourself what belongs to a minister!&nbsp; My dear
+Jane, is nobody but a minister to bear witness for the Master?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course I did not mean to say that; you know I did not.&nbsp;
+Why do you catch at my words?&nbsp; Perhaps, if you had not been quite
+so forward, Mr. Caillaud and his daughter might have gone to chapel.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>After supper, and when he was alone, Zachariah sat for some time
+without moving.&nbsp; He presently rose and opened the Bible again,
+which lay on the table - the Bible which belonged to his father - and
+turned to the fly-leaf on which was written the family history.&nbsp;
+There was the record of his father&rsquo;s marriage, dated on the day
+of the event.&nbsp; There was the record of his own birth.&nbsp; There
+was the record of his mother&rsquo;s death, still in his father&rsquo;s
+writing, but in an altered hand, the letters not so distinct, and the
+strokes crooked and formed with difficulty.&nbsp; There was the record
+of Zachariah&rsquo;s own marriage.&nbsp; A cloud of shapeless, inarticulate
+sentiment obscured the man&rsquo;s eyes and brain.&nbsp; He could not
+define what he felt, but he did feel.&nbsp; He could not bear it, and
+he shut the book, opening it again at the twenty-second Psalm - the
+one which the disciples of Jesus called to mind on the night of the
+crucifixion.&nbsp; It was one which Mr. Bradshaw often read, and Zachariah
+had noted in it a few corrections made in the translation:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;<i>My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?&nbsp; Our fathers
+trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. . . .&nbsp;
+Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
+. . .&nbsp; Be Thou not far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste Thee
+to help me. . . .&nbsp; Save me from the lion&rsquo;s mouth: and from
+the horns of the wild oxen Thou hast answered me</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;From the horns of the wild oxen&rdquo; - that correction had
+often been precious to Zachariah.&nbsp; When at the point of being pinned
+to the ground - so he understood it - help had arisen; risen up from
+the earth, and might again arise.&nbsp; It was upon the first part of
+the text he dwelt now.&nbsp; It came upon him with fearful distinctness
+that he was alone - that he could never hope for sympathy from his wife
+as long as he lived.&nbsp; Mr. Bradshaw&rsquo;s words that evening recurred
+to him.&nbsp; God&rsquo;s purpose in choosing to smite Jephthah in that
+way was partly intelligible, and, after all, Jephthah was elected to
+redeem his country too.&nbsp; But what could be God&rsquo;s purpose
+in electing one of his servants to indifference and absence of affection
+where he had a right to expect it?&nbsp; Could anybody be better for
+not being loved?&nbsp; Even Zachariah could not think it possible.&nbsp;
+But Mr. Bradshaw&rsquo;s words again recurred.&nbsp; Who was he that
+he should question God&rsquo;s designs?&nbsp; It might be part of the
+Divine design that he, Zachariah Coleman, should not be made better
+by anything.&nbsp; It might be part of that design, part of a fulfilment
+of a plan devised by the Infinite One, that he should be broken, nay,
+perhaps not saved.&nbsp; Mr. Bradshaw&rsquo;s doctrine that night was
+nothing new.&nbsp; Zachariah had believed from his childhood, or had
+thought he believed, that the potter had power over the clay - of the
+same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour;
+and that the thing formed unto dishonour could not reply and say to
+him that formed it: &lsquo;Why hast thou made me thus?&rsquo;&nbsp;
+Nevertheless, to believe it generally was one thing; to believe it as
+a truth for him was another.&nbsp; Darkness, the darkness as of the
+crucifixion night, seemed over and around him.&nbsp; Poor wretch! he
+thought he was struggling with his weakness; but he was in reality struggling
+against his own strength.&nbsp; <i>Why</i> had God so decreed?&nbsp;
+Do what he could, that fatal <i>why</i>, the protest of his reason,
+asserted itself; and yet he cursed himself for permitting it, believing
+it to be a sin.&nbsp; He walked about his room for some relief.&nbsp;
+He looked out of the window.&nbsp; It was getting late; the sky was
+clearing, as it does in London at that hour, and he saw the stars.&nbsp;
+There was nothing to help him there.&nbsp; They mocked him rather with
+their imperturbable, obstinate stillness.&nbsp; At last he turned round,
+fell upon his knees, and poured out himself before his Maker, entreating
+Him for light.&nbsp; He rose from the ground, looked again out of the
+window, and the first flush of the morning was just visible.&nbsp; Light
+was coming to the world in obedience to the Divine command, but not
+to him.&nbsp; He was exhausted, and crept into his bedroom, undressing
+without candle, and without a sound.&nbsp; For a few minutes he thought
+he should never sleep again, save in his grave; but an unseen Hand presently
+touched him, and he knew nothing till he was awakened by the broad day
+streaming over him.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII - UNCONVENTIONAL JUSTICE</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>In December, 1814, a steamboat was set in motion on the Limehouse
+Canal, the Lord Mayor and other distinguished persons being on board.&nbsp;
+In the same month Joanna Southcott died.&nbsp; She had announced that
+on the 19th October she was to be delivered of the Prince of Peace,
+although she was then sixty years old.&nbsp; Thousands of persons believed
+her, and a cradle was made.&nbsp; The Prince of Peace did not arrive,
+and in a little more than two months poor Joanna had departed, the cause
+of her departure having being certified as dropsy.&nbsp; Death did not
+diminish the number of her disciples, for they took refuge in the hope
+of her resurrection.&nbsp; &ldquo;The arm of the Lord is not shortened,&rdquo;
+they truly affirmed; and even to this day there are people who are waiting
+for the fulfilment of Joanna&rsquo;s prophecies and the appearance of
+the &ldquo;second Shiloh.&rdquo;&nbsp; Zachariah had been frequently
+twitted in joke by his profane companions in the printing-office upon
+his supposed belief in the delusion.&nbsp; It was their delight to assume
+that all the &ldquo;pious ones,&rdquo; as they called them, were alike;
+and on the morning of the 30th of December, the day after Joanna expired,
+they were more than usually tormenting.&nbsp; Zachariah did not remonstrate.&nbsp;
+In his conscientious eagerness to bear witness for his Master, he had
+often tried his hand upon his mates; but he had never had the smallest
+success, and had now desisted.&nbsp; Moreover, his thoughts were that
+morning with his comrades, the Friends of the People.&nbsp; He hummed
+to himself the lines from <i>Lara:</i></p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Within that land was many a malcontent,<br />Who cursed the
+tyranny to which he bent;<br />That soil full many a wringing despot
+saw,<br />Who worked his wantonness in form of law:<br />Long war without
+and frequent broil within<br />Had made a path for blood and giant sin.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>The last meeting had been unusually exciting.&nbsp; Differences of
+opinion had arisen as to future procedure, many of the members, the
+Secretary included, advocating action; but what they understood by it
+is very difficult to say.&nbsp; A special call had been made for that
+night, and Zachariah was in a difficulty.&nbsp; His native sternness
+and detestation of kings and their ministers would have led him almost
+to any length; but he had a sober head on his shoulders.&nbsp; So had
+the Major, and so had Caillaud.&nbsp; Consequently they held back, and
+insisted, before stirring a step towards actual revolution, that there
+should be some fair chance of support and success.&nbsp; The Major in
+particular warned them of the necessity of drill; and plainly told them
+also that, not only were the middle classes all against them, but their
+own class was hostile.&nbsp; This was perfectly true, although it was
+a truth so unpleasant that he had to endure some very strong language,
+and even hints of treason.&nbsp; No wonder: for it is undoubtedly very
+bitter to be obliged to believe that the men whom we want to help do
+not themselves wish to be helped.&nbsp; To work hard for those who will
+thank us, to head a majority against oppressors, is a brave thing; but
+far more honour is due to the Maitlands, Caillauds, Colemans, and others
+of that stamp who strove for thirty years from the outbreak of the French
+revolution onwards, not merely to rend the chains of the prisoners,
+but had to achieve the more difficult task of convincing them that they
+would be happier if they were free.&nbsp; These heroes are forgotten,
+or nearly so.&nbsp; Who remembers the poor creatures who met in the
+early mornings on the Lancashire moors or were shot by the yeomanry?&nbsp;
+They sleep in graves over which stands no tombstone, or probably their
+bodies have been carted away to make room for a railway which has been
+driven through their resting-place.&nbsp; They saw the truth before
+those whom the world delights to honour as its political redeemers;
+but they have perished utterly from our recollection, and will never
+be mentioned in history.&nbsp; Will there ever be a great Day of Assize
+when a just judgment shall be pronounced; when all the impostors who
+have been crowned for what they did not deserve will be stripped, and
+the Divine word will be heard calling upon the faithful to inherit the
+kingdom, - who, when &ldquo;I was an hungered gave me meat, when I was
+thirsty gave me drink; when I was a stranger took me in; when I was
+naked visited me; when I was in prison came unto me?&rdquo;&nbsp; Never!&nbsp;
+It was a dream of an enthusiastic Galilean youth, and let us not desire
+that it may ever come true.&nbsp; Let us rather gladly consent to be
+crushed into indistinguishable dust, with no hope of record: rejoicing
+only if some infinitesimal portion of the good work may be achieved
+by our obliteration, and content to be remembered only in that anthem
+which in the future it will be ordained shall be sung in our religious
+services in honour of all holy apostles and martyrs who have left no
+name.</p>
+<p>The night before the special meeting a gentleman in a blue cloak,
+and with a cigar in his mouth, sauntered past the entrance to Carter&rsquo;s
+Rents, where Mr. Secretary lived.&nbsp; It was getting late, but he
+was evidently not in a hurry, and seemed to enjoy the coolness of the
+air, for presently he turned and walked past the entrance again.&nbsp;
+He took out his watch - it was a quarter to eleven o&rsquo;clock - and
+he cursed Mr. Secretary and the beer-shops which had probably detained
+him.&nbsp; A constable came by, but never showed himself in the least
+degree inquisitive; although it was odd that anybody should select Carter&rsquo;s
+Rents for a stroll.&nbsp; Presently Mr. Secretary came in sight, a trifle,
+but not much, the worse for liquor.&nbsp; It was odd, also, that he
+took no notice of the blue cloak and cigar, but went straight to his
+own lodging.&nbsp; The other, after a few moments followed; and it was
+a third time odd that he should find the door unbolted and go upstairs.&nbsp;
+All this, we say, would have been strange to a spectator, but it was
+not so to these three persons.&nbsp; Presently the one first named found
+himself in Mr. Secretary&rsquo;s somewhat squalid room.&nbsp; He then
+stood disclosed as the assistant whom the Secretary had first seen at
+Whitehall sitting in the Commissioner&rsquo;s Office.&nbsp; This was
+not the second nor third interview which had taken place since then.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, Mr. Hardy, what do you want here to-night?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, my friend, you know, I suppose.&nbsp; How goes the game?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;D---m me if I <i>do</i> know.&nbsp; If you think I am going
+to split, you are very much mistaken.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Split!&nbsp; Who wants you to split?&nbsp; Why, there&rsquo;s
+nothing to split about.&nbsp; I can tell you just as much as you can
+tell me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you come here then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;For the pleasure of seeing you, and to - &rdquo; Mr. Hardy
+put his hand carelessly in his pocket, a movement which was followed
+by a metallic jingle - &ldquo;and just to - to - explain one or two
+little matters.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary observed that he was very tired.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you?&nbsp; I believe I am tired too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Hardy took out a little case-bottle with brandy in it, and the
+Secretary, without saying a word, produced two mugs and a jug of water.&nbsp;
+The brandy was mixed by Mr. Hardy; but his share of the spirit differed
+from that assigned to his friend.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Split!&rdquo; he continued; &ldquo;no, I should think not.&nbsp;
+But we want you to help us.&nbsp; The Major and one or two more had
+better be kept out of harm&rsquo;s way for a little while; and we propose
+not to hurt them, but to take care of them a bit, you understand?&nbsp;
+And if, the next time, he and the others will be there - we have been
+looking for the Major for three or four days, but he is not to be found
+in his old quarters - we will just give them a call.&nbsp; When will
+you have your next meeting?&nbsp; They will be all handy then.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You can find that out without my help.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s to-morrow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah!&nbsp; I suppose you&rsquo;ve had a stormy discussion.&nbsp;
+I hope your moderate counsels prevailed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Secretary winked and gave his head a twist on one side, as if
+he meant thereby to say: &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t catch me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pity,&rdquo; continued Mr. Hardy, taking no notice,
+&ldquo;that some men are always for rushing into extremities.&nbsp;
+Why don&rsquo;t they try and redress their grievances, if they have
+any, in the legitimate way which you yourself propose - by petition?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It so happened that a couple of hours before, Mr. Secretary having
+been somewhat noisy and insubordinate, the Major had been obliged to
+rule him out of order and request his silence.&nbsp; The insult - for
+so he considered it - was rankling in him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Because,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;we have amongst us two
+or three d---d conceited, stuck-up fools, who think they are going to
+ride over us.&nbsp; By God, they are mistaken though!&nbsp; They are
+the chaps who do all the mischief.&nbsp; Not that I&rsquo;d say anything
+against them - no, notwithstanding I stand up against them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do all the mischief - yes, you&rsquo;ve just hit it.&nbsp;
+I do believe that if it were not for these fellows the others would
+be quiet enough.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary took a little more brandy and water.&nbsp; The sense
+of wrong within him was like an open wound, and the brandy inflamed
+it.&nbsp; He also began to think that it would not be a bad thing for
+him if he could seclude the Major, Caillaud, and Zachariah for a season.&nbsp;
+Zachariah in particular he mortally hated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What some of these fine folks would like to do, you see, Mr.
+Hardy, is to persuade us poor devils to get up the row, while they <i>direct</i>
+it.&nbsp; <i>Direct</i> it, that&rsquo;s their word; but we&rsquo;re
+not going to be humbugged.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Too wide awake, I should say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should say so too.&nbsp; We are to be told off for the Bank
+of England, and they are to show it to us at the other end of Cheapside.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Bank of England,&rdquo; said Mr. Hardy, laughing; &ldquo;that&rsquo;s
+a joke.&nbsp; You might run your heads a long while against that before
+you get in.&nbsp; You don&rsquo;t drink your brandy and water.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Secretary took another gulp.&nbsp; &ldquo;And he&rsquo;s a military
+man - a military man - a military man.&rdquo;&nbsp; He was getting rather
+stupid now, and repeated the phrase each of the three times with increasing
+unsteadiness, but also with increasing contempt.</p>
+<p>Mr. Hardy took our his watch.&nbsp; It was getting on towards midnight.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Good-bye; glad to see you all right,&rdquo; and he turned to
+leave.&nbsp; There was a jingling of coin again, and when he had left
+Mr. Secretary took up the five sovereigns which had found their way
+to the table and put them in his pocket.&nbsp; His visitor picked his
+way downstairs.&nbsp; The constable was still pacing up and down Carter&rsquo;s
+Rents, but again did not seem to observe him, and he walked meditatively
+to Jermyn Street.&nbsp; He was at his office by half-past nine, and
+his chief was only half-an-hour later.</p>
+<p>The Major had thought it prudent to change his address; and, furthermore,
+it was the object of the Government to make his arrest, with that of
+his colleagues, at the place of meeting, not only to save trouble, but
+because it would look better.&nbsp; Mr. Hardy had found out, therefore,
+all he wanted to know, and was enabled to confirm his opinion that the
+Major was the head of the conspiracy.</p>
+<p>But underneath Mr. Secretary&rsquo;s mine was a deeper mine; for
+as the Major sat at breakfast the next morning a note came for him,
+the messenger leaving directly he delivered it to the servant.&nbsp;
+It was very brief:- &ldquo;No meeting to-night.&nbsp; Warn all except
+the Secretary, who has already been acquainted.&rdquo;&nbsp; There was
+no signature, and he did not know the handwriting.&nbsp; He reflected
+for a little while, and then determined to consult Caillaud and Coleman,
+who were his informal Cabinet.&nbsp; He had no difficulty in finding
+Coleman, but the Caillauds were not at home, and it was agreed that
+postponement could do no harm.&nbsp; A message was therefore left at
+Caillaud&rsquo;s house, and one was sent to every one of the members,
+but two or three could not be discovered.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Mr. Secretary, who, strange to say, had <i>not</i> been
+acquainted, had been a little overcome by Mr. Hardy&rsquo;s brandy on
+the top of the beer he had taken beforehand, and woke in the morning
+very miserable.&nbsp; Finding the five guineas in his pocket, he was
+tempted to a public-house hard by, in order that he might cool his stomach
+and raise his spirits with a draught or two of ale.&nbsp; He remained
+there a little too long, and on reaching home was obliged to go to bed
+again.&nbsp; He awoke about six, and then it came into his still somewhat
+confused brain that he had to attend the meeting.&nbsp; At half-past
+seven he accordingly took his departure.&nbsp; Meanwhile the Major and
+Zachariah had determined to post themselves in Red Lion Street, to intercept
+those of their comrades with whom they had not been able to communicate,
+and also to see what was going to happen.&nbsp; At a quarter to eight
+the Secretary turned out of Holborn, and when he came a little nearer,
+Zachariah saw that at a distance of fifty yards there was a constable
+following him.&nbsp; He came on slowly until he was abreast of a narrow
+court, when suddenly there was a pistol-shot, and he was dead on the
+pavement.&nbsp; Zachariah&rsquo;s first impulse was to rush forward,
+but he saw the constable running, followed by others, and he discerned
+in an instant that to attempt to assist would lead to his own arrest
+and do no good.&nbsp; He managed, however, to reach the Major, and for
+two or three moments they stood stock-still on the edge of the pavement
+struck with amazement.&nbsp; Presently a woman passed them with a thick
+veil over her face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Home,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;don&rsquo;t stay here like fools.&nbsp;
+Pack up your things and be off.&nbsp; You&rsquo;ll be in prison to-morrow
+morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Be off!&rdquo; gasped Zachariah; &ldquo;be off! - where?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Anywhere!&rdquo; and she had gone.</p>
+<p>The constables, after putting the corpse in a hackney coach, proceeded
+to the room; but it was dark and empty.&nbsp; They had no directions
+to do anything more that night, and returned to Bow Street.&nbsp; The
+next morning, however, as soon as it was light, a Secretary of State&rsquo;s
+warrant, backed by sufficient force, was presented at the lodgings of
+Caillaud and Zachariah.&nbsp; The birds had flown, and not a soul could
+tell what had become of them.&nbsp; In Zachariah&rsquo;s street, which
+was rather a Radical quarter, the official inquiries were not answered
+politely, and one of the constables received on the top of his head
+an old pail with slops in it.&nbsp; The minutest investigation failed
+to discover to whom the pail belonged.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX - A STRAIN ON THE CABLE</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Bow Street was completely at fault, and never discovered the secret
+of that assassination.&nbsp; It was clear that neither the Major nor
+Coleman were the murderers, as they had been noticed at some distance
+from the spot where the Secretary fell by several persons who described
+them accurately.&nbsp; Nor was Caillaud suspected, as the constable
+testified that he passed him on the opposite side of the street, as
+he followed the Secretary.&nbsp; The only conclusion, according to Bow
+Street, which was free from all doubt was, that whoever did the deed
+was a committee consisting of a single member.&nbsp; A reward of &pound;500
+did not bring forward anybody who knew anything about the business.&nbsp;
+As for Caillaud, his daughter and the Major, the next morning saw them
+far on the way to Dover, and eventually they arrived at Paris in safety.&nbsp;
+Zachariah, when he reached home, found his wife gone.&nbsp; A note lay
+for him there, probably from the same hand which warned the Major, telling
+him not to lose an instant, but to join in Islington one of the mails
+to Manchester.&nbsp; His wife would start that night from St. Martin&rsquo;s
+le Grand by a coach which went by another road.&nbsp; He was always
+prompt, and in five minutes he was out of the house.&nbsp; The fare
+was carefully folded by his unknown friend in the letter.&nbsp; He just
+managed as directed, to secure a place, not by the regular Manchester
+mail, but by one which went through Barnet and stopped to take up passengers
+at the &ldquo;Angel.&rdquo;&nbsp; He climbed upon the roof, and presently
+was travelling rapidly through Holloway and Highgate.&nbsp; He found,
+to his relief, that nobody had heard of the murder, and he was left
+pretty much to his own reflections.&nbsp; His first thoughts were an
+attempt to unravel the mystery.&nbsp; Why was it so sudden?&nbsp; Why
+had no word not hint of what was intended reached him?&nbsp; He could
+not guess.&nbsp; In those days the clubs were so beset with spies that
+frequently the most important resolutions were taken by one man, who
+confided in nobody.&nbsp; It was winter, but fortunately Zachariah was
+well wrapped up.&nbsp; He journeyed on, hour after hour, in a state
+of mazed bewilderment, one thought tumbling over another, and when morning
+broke over the flats he had not advanced a single step in the determination
+of his future path.&nbsp; Nothing is more painful to a man of any energy
+than the inability to put things in order in himself - to place before
+himself what he has to do, and arrange the means for doing it.&nbsp;
+To be the passive victim of a rushing stream of disconnected impressions
+is torture, especially if the emergency be urgent.&nbsp; So when the
+sun came up Zachariah began to be ashamed of himself that the night
+had passed in these idiotic moonings, which had left him just where
+he was, and he tried to settle what he was to do when he reached Manchester.&nbsp;
+He did not know a soul; but he could conjecture why he was advised to
+go thither.&nbsp; It was a disaffected town, and Friends of the People
+were very strong there.&nbsp; His first duty was to get a lodging, his
+second to get work, and his third to find out a minister of God under
+whom he could worship.&nbsp; He put this last, not because it was the
+least important, but because he had the most time to decide upon it.&nbsp;
+At about ten o&rsquo;clock at night he came to his journey&rsquo;s end,
+and to his joy saw his wife waiting for him.&nbsp; They went at once
+to a small inn hard by, and Mrs. Coleman began to overwhelm him with
+interrogation; but he quietly suggested that not a syllable should be
+spoken till they had had some rest, and that they should swallow their
+supper and go to bed.&nbsp; In the morning Zachariah rose and looked
+out of the window.&nbsp; He saw nothing but a small backyard in which
+some miserable, scraggy fowls were crouching under a cart to protect
+themselves from the rain, which was falling heavily through the dim,
+smoky air.&nbsp; His spirits sank.&nbsp; He had no fear of apprehension
+or prosecution, but the prospect before him was depressing.&nbsp; Although
+he was a poor man, he had not been accustomed to oscillations of fortune,
+and he was in an utterly strange place, with five pounds in his pocket,
+and nothing to do.</p>
+<p>He was, however, resolved not to yield, and thought it best to begin
+with his wife before she could begin with him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, my dear, tell me what has happened, who sent you here,
+and what kind of a journey you have had?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Bradshaw came about seven o&rsquo;clock, and told me the
+Government was about to suppress the Friends of the People; that you
+did not know it; that I must go to Manchester; that you would come after
+me; and that a message would be left for you.&nbsp; He took me to the
+coach, and paid for me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Bradshaw!&nbsp; Did he tell you anything more?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; except that he did not think we should be pursued, and
+that he would send our things after us when he knew where we were.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have not heard anything more, then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t heard that the Secretary was shot?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Shot!&nbsp; Oh dear!&nbsp; Zachariah, what will become of
+us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her husband then told her what he knew, she listening with great
+eagerness and in silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, Zachariah, what will become of us?&rdquo; she broke out
+again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is no reason to worry yourself, Jane; it is perfectly
+easy for me to prove my innocence.&nbsp; It is better for us, however,
+to stay here for a time.&nbsp; The Government won&rsquo;t go any further
+with us; they will search for the murderer - that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, then, are we sent here and the others are let alone?&nbsp;
+I suppose the Major is not here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I cannot say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To think I should ever come to this!&nbsp; I haven&rsquo;t
+got a rag with me beyond what I have on.&nbsp; I haven&rsquo;t got any
+clean things; a nice sort of creature I am to go out of doors.&nbsp;
+And it all had nothing to do with us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing to do with us!&nbsp; My dear Jane, do you mean that
+we are not to help other people, but sit at home and enjoy ourselves?&nbsp;
+Besides, if you thought it wrong, why did you not say so before?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How was I to know what you were doing?&nbsp; You never told
+me anything; you never do.&nbsp; One thing I do know is that we shall
+starve and I suppose I shall have to go about and beg.&nbsp; I haven&rsquo;t
+even another pair of shoes or stockings to my feet.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah pondered for a moment.&nbsp; His first impulse was something
+very different; but at last he rose, went up to his wife, kissed her
+softly on the forehead, and said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never mind, my dear; courage, you will have your clothes next
+week.&nbsp; Come with me and look out for a lodging.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Zachariah, however, shook herself free - not violently, but
+still decidedly - from his caresses.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Most likely seized by the Government.&nbsp; Look for a lodging!&nbsp;
+That&rsquo;s just like you!&nbsp; How can I go out in this pouring rain?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah lately, at any rate, had ceased to expect much affection
+in his wife for him; but he thought she was sensible, and equal to any
+complexity of circumstances, or even to disaster.&nbsp; He thought this,
+not on any positive evidence; but he concluded, somewhat absurdly, that
+her coldness meant common sense and capacity for facing trouble courageously
+and with deliberation.&nbsp; He had now to find out his mistake, and
+to learn that the absence of emotion neither proves, nor is even a ground
+for suspecting, any good whatever of a person; that, on the contrary,
+it is a ground for suspecting weakness, and possibly imbecility.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Coleman refused to go out, and after breakfast Zachariah went
+by himself, having first inquired what was a likely quarter.&nbsp; As
+he wandered along much that had been before him again and again once
+more recurred to him.&nbsp; He had been overtaken by calamity, and he
+had not heard from his wife one single expression of sympathy, nor had
+he received one single idea which could help him.&nbsp; She had thought
+of nothing but herself, and even of herself not reasonably.&nbsp; She
+was not the helpmeet which he felt he had a right to expect.&nbsp; He
+could have endured any defect, so it seemed, if only he could have had
+love; he could have endured the want of love if only he could have had
+a counsellor.&nbsp; But he had neither, and he rebelled, questioning
+the justice of his lot.&nbsp; Then he fell into the old familiar controversy
+with himself, and it was curiously characteristic of him, that, as he
+paced those dismal Manchester pavements, all their gloom disappeared
+as he re-argued the universal problem of which his case was an example.&nbsp;
+He admitted the unquestionable right of the Almighty to damn three parts
+of creation to eternal hell if so He willed; why not, then, one sinner
+like Zachariah Coleman to a weary pilgrimage for thirty or forty years?&nbsp;
+He rebuked himself when he found that he had all his life assented so
+easily to the doctrine of God&rsquo;s absolute authority in the election
+and disposal of the creatures He had made, and yet that he revolted
+when God touched him, and awarded him a punishment which, in comparison
+with the eternal loss of His presence, was as nothing.&nbsp; At last
+- and here, through his religion, he came down to the only consolation
+possible for him - he said to himself, &ldquo;Thus hath He decreed;
+it is foolish to struggle against His ordinances; we can but submit.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+&ldquo;A poor gospel,&rdquo; says his critic.&nbsp; Poor! - yes, it
+may be; but it is the gospel according to Job, and any other is a mere
+mirage.&nbsp; &ldquo;Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom and stretch her
+wings towards the south?&rdquo;&nbsp; Confess ignorance and the folly
+of insurrection, and there is a chance that even the irremediable will
+be somewhat mitigated.&nbsp; Poor! - yes; but it is genuine; and this
+at least must be said for Puritanism, that of all the theologies and
+philosophies it is the most honest in its recognition of the facts;
+the most real, if we penetrate to the heart of it, in the remedy which
+it offers.</p>
+<p>He found two small furnished rooms which would answer his purpose
+till his own furniture should arrive, and he and his wife took possession
+that same morning.&nbsp; He then wrote to his landlord in London - a
+man whom he knew he could trust - and directed him to send his goods.&nbsp;
+For the present, although he had no fear whatever of any prosecution,
+he thought fit to adopt a feigned name, with which we need not trouble
+ourselves.&nbsp; In the afternoon he sallied out to seek employment.&nbsp;
+The weather had cleared, but Mrs. Coleman still refused to accompany
+him, and she occupied herself moodily with setting the place to rights,
+as she called it, although, as it happened, it was particularly neat
+and clean.&nbsp; There was not so much printing done in Manchester then
+as now, and Zachariah had no success.&nbsp; He came home about seven
+o&rsquo;clock, weary and disheartened.&nbsp; His wife was one of those
+women who under misfortune show all that is worst in them, as many women
+in misfortune show all that is best.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You might have been sure you would get nothing to do here.&nbsp;
+If, as you say, there is no danger, why did you not stay in London?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You know all about it, my dear; we were warned to come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, but why in such a hurry?&nbsp; Why didn&rsquo;t you stop
+to think?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is all very well to say so now, but there were only a few
+minutes in which to decide.&nbsp; Besides, when I got home I found you
+gone.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Zachariah conveniently took no notice of the last part of this
+remark, which, of course, settled the whole question, but continued:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, well, I suppose it&rsquo;s all right; but I&rsquo;m sure
+we shall starve - I am convinced we shall.&nbsp; Oh! I wish my poor
+dear mother were alive!&nbsp; I have no home to go to.&nbsp; What <i>will</i>
+become of us?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He lost his patience a little.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Jane,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;what is our religion worth if
+it does not support us in times like these?&nbsp; Does it not teach
+us to bow to God&rsquo;s will?&nbsp; Surely we, who have had such advantages,
+ought to behave under our trials better than those who have been brought
+up like heathens.&nbsp; God will not leave us.&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t you
+remember Mr. Bradshaw&rsquo;s sermon upon the passage through the Red
+Sea.&nbsp; When the Israelites were brought down to the very shore with
+nothing but destruction before them, a way was opened.&nbsp; What did
+Mr. Bradshaw bid us observe?&nbsp; The Egyptians were close behind -
+so close that the Israelites saw them; the sea was in front.&nbsp; The
+road was not made till the enemy was upon them, and then the waters
+were divided and became a wall unto them on their right hand and on
+their left; the very waters, Mr. Bradshaw remarked, which before were
+their terror.&nbsp; God, too, might have sent them a different way;
+no doubt He might, but He chose <i>that</i> way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Zachariah, I heard Mr. Bradshaw as well as yourself; I am
+a member of the church just as much as you are, and I don&rsquo;t think
+it becoming of you to preach to me as if you were a minister.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Her voice rose and became shriller as she went on.&nbsp; &ldquo;I will
+not stand it.&nbsp; Who are you that you should talk to me so? - bad
+enough to bring me down here to die, without treating me as if I were
+an unconverted character.&nbsp; Oh! if I had but a home to go to!&rdquo;
+and she covered her face with her apron and became hysterical.</p>
+<p>What a revelation!&nbsp; By this time he had looked often into the
+soul of the woman whom he had chosen - the woman with whom he was to
+be for ever in this world - and had discovered that there was nothing,
+nothing, absolutely nothing which answered anything in himself with
+a smile of recognition; but he now looked again, and found something
+worse than emptiness.&nbsp; He found lurking in the obscure darkness
+a reptile with cruel fangs which at any moment might turn upon him when
+he was at his weakest and least able to defend himself.&nbsp; He had
+that in him by nature which would have prompted him to desperate deeds.&nbsp;
+He could have flung himself from her with a curse, or even have killed
+himself in order to escape from his difficulty.&nbsp; But whatever there
+was in him originally had been changed.&nbsp; Upon the wild stem had
+been grafted a nobler slip, which drew all its sap from the old root,
+but had civilised and sweetened its acrid juices.&nbsp; He leaned over
+his wife, caressed her, gave her water, and restored her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;God knows,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I did not mean to preach
+to you.&nbsp; God in heaven knows I need that somebody should preach
+to me.&rdquo;&nbsp; He knelt down before her as she remained leaning
+back in the chair, and he repeated the Lord&rsquo;s Prayer: &ldquo;<i>Give
+us this day our daily bread.&nbsp; Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
+them that trespass against us</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp; But will it be believed
+that as he rose from his knees, before he had actually straightened
+his limbs, two lines from the &ldquo;<i>Corsair</i>&rdquo; flashed into
+his mind, not particularly apposite, but there they were:</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;She rose - she sprung - she clung to his embrace<br />Till
+his heart heaved beneath her hidden face?&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>Whence had they descended?&nbsp; He was troubled at their sudden
+intrusion, and he went silently to the window, moodily gazing into the
+street.&nbsp; His wife, left to herself, recovered, and prepared supper.&nbsp;
+There was no reconciliation, at least on her side.&nbsp; She was not
+capable of reconciliation.&nbsp; Her temper exhausted itself gradually.&nbsp;
+With her the storm never broke up nobly and with magnificent forgetfulness
+into clear spaces of azure, with the singing of birds and with hot sunshine
+turning into diamonds every remaining drop of the deluge which had threatened
+ruin; the change was always rather to a uniformly obscured sky and a
+cold drizzle which lasted all day.</p>
+<p>The next morning he renewed his quest.&nbsp; He was away all day
+long, but he had no success.&nbsp; He was now getting very anxious.&nbsp;
+He was expecting his furniture, which he had directed to be sent to
+the inn where they had first stayed, and he would have to pay for the
+carriage.&nbsp; His landlord had insisted on a week&rsquo;s rent beforehand,
+so that, putting aside the sum for the carrier, he had now two pounds
+left.&nbsp; He thought of appealing to his friends; but he had a great
+horror of asking for charity, and could not bring himself to do it.</p>
+<p>The third, fourth, and fifth day passed, with no result.&nbsp; On
+the seventh day he found that his goods had come; but he decided not
+to move, as it meant expense.&nbsp; He took away a chest of clothes,
+and remained where he was.&nbsp; By way of recoil from the older doctrine
+that suffering does men good, it has been said that it does no good.&nbsp;
+Both statements are true, and both untrue.&nbsp; Many it merely brutalises.&nbsp;
+Half the crime of the world is caused by suffering, and half its virtues
+are due to happiness.&nbsp; Nevertheless suffering, actual personal
+suffering, is the mother of innumerable beneficial experiences, and
+unless we are so weak that we yield and break, it extracts from us genuine
+answers to many questions which, without it, we either do not put to
+ourselves, or, if they are asked, are turned aside with traditional
+replies.&nbsp; A man who is strong and survives can hardly pace the
+pavements of a city for days searching for employment, his pocket every
+day becoming lighter, without feeling in after life that he is richer
+by something which all the universities in the world could not have
+given him.&nbsp; The most dramatic of poets cannot imagine, even afar
+off, what such a man feels and thinks, especially if his temperament
+be nervous and foreboding.&nbsp; How foreign, hard, repellent, are the
+streets in which he is a stranger, alone amidst a crowd of people all
+intent upon their own occupation, whilst he has none!&nbsp; At noon,
+when business is at its height, he, with nothing to do, sits down on
+a seat in an open place, or, may be, on the doorstep of an empty house,
+unties the little parcel he has brought with him, and eats his dry bread.&nbsp;
+He casts up in his mind the shops he has visited; he reflects that he
+has taken all the more promising first, and that not more than two or
+three are left.&nbsp; He thinks of the vast waste of the city all round
+him; its miles of houses; and he has a more vivid sense of abandonment
+than if he were on a plank in the middle of the Atlantic.&nbsp; Towards
+the end of the afternoon the pressure in the offices and banks increases;
+the clerks hurry hither and thither; he has no share whatever in the
+excitement; he is an intrusion.&nbsp; He lingers about aimlessly, and
+presently the great tide turns outwards and flows towards the suburbs.&nbsp;
+Every vehicle which passes him is crowded with happy folk who have earned
+their living and are going home.&nbsp; He has earned nothing.&nbsp;
+Let anybody who wants to test the strength of the stalk of carle hemp
+in him try it by the wringing strain of a day thus spent!&nbsp; How
+humiliating are the repulses he encounters!&nbsp; Most employers to
+whom a request is made for something to do prefer to treat it as a petition
+for aims, and answer accordingly.&nbsp; They understand what is wanted
+before a word is spoken, and bawl out &ldquo;No!&nbsp; Shut the door
+after you.&rdquo;&nbsp; One man to whom Zachariah applied was opening
+his letters.&nbsp; For a moment he did not pay the slightest attention,
+but as Zachariah continued waiting, he shouted with an oath, &ldquo;What
+do you stand staring there for?&nbsp; Be off!&rdquo;&nbsp; There was
+once a time when Zachariah would have stood up against the wretch; but
+he could not do it now, and he retreated in silence.&nbsp; Nevertheless,
+when he got out into the Street he felt as if he could have rushed back
+and gripped the brute&rsquo;s throat till he had squeezed the soul out
+of his carcass.&nbsp; Those of us who have craved unsuccessfully for
+permission to do what the Maker of us all has fitted us to do alone
+understand how revolutions are generated.&nbsp; Talk about the atrocities
+of the Revolution!&nbsp; All the atrocities of the democracy heaped
+together ever since the world began would not equal, if we had any gauge
+by which to measure them, the atrocities perpetrated in a week upon
+the poor, simply because they are poor; and the marvel rather is, not
+that there is every now and then a September massacre at which all the
+world shrieks, but that such horrors are so infrequent.&nbsp; Again,
+I say, let no man judge communist or anarchist <i>till he has asked
+for leave to work</i>, and a &ldquo;Damn your eyes!&rdquo; has rung
+in his ears.</p>
+<p>Zachariah had some self-respect; he was cared for by God, and in
+God&rsquo;s Book was a registered decree concerning him.&nbsp; These
+men treated him as if he were not a person, an individual soul, but
+as an atom of a mass to be swept out anywhere, into the gutter - into
+the river.&nbsp; He was staggered for a time.&nbsp; Hundreds and thousands
+of human beings swarmed past him, and he could not help saying to himself
+as he looked up to the grey sky, &ldquo;Is it true, then?&nbsp; Does
+God really know anything about me?&nbsp; Are we not born by the million
+every week, like spawn, and crushed out of existence like spawn?&nbsp;
+Is not humanity the commonest and cheapest thing in the world?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+But as yet his faith was unshaken, and he repelled the doubt as a temptation
+of Satan.&nbsp; Blessed is the man who can assign promptly everything
+which is not in harmony with himself to a devil, and so get rid of it.&nbsp;
+The pitiful case is that of the distracted mortal who knows not what
+is the degree of authority which his thoughts and impulses possess;
+who is constantly bewildered by contrary messages, and has no evidence
+as to their authenticity.&nbsp; Zachariah had his rule still; the suggestion
+in the street was tried by it; found to be false; was labelled accordingly,
+and he was relieved.</p>
+<p>The dread of the real, obvious danger was not so horrible as a vague,
+shapeless fear which haunted him.&nbsp; It was a coward enemy, for it
+seized him when he was most tired and most depressed.&nbsp; What is
+that nameless terror?&nbsp; Is it a momentary revelation of the infinite
+abyss which surrounds us; from the sight of which we are mercifully
+protected by a painted vapour, by an illusion that unspeakable darkness
+which we all of us know to exist, but which we hypocritically deny,
+and determine never to confess to one another?&nbsp; Here again, however,
+Zachariah had his advantage over others.&nbsp; He had his precedent.&nbsp;
+He remembered that quagmire in the immortal Progress into which, if
+even a good man falls, he can find no bottom; he remembered that gloom
+so profound &ldquo;that ofttimes, when he lifted up his foot to set
+forward, he knew not where or upon what he should set it next;&rdquo;
+he remembered the flame and smoke, the sparks and hideous noises, the
+things that cared not for Christian&rsquo;s sword, so that he was forced
+to betake himself to another weapon called All-prayer; he remembered
+how that Christian &ldquo;<i>was so confounded that he did not know
+his own voice</i>;&rdquo; he remembered the voice of a man as going
+before, saying, &ldquo;<i>Though I walk through the valley of the shadow
+of death I will fear none ill, for Thou art with me</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Lastly, he remembered that by-and-by the day broke, and Christian cried,
+&ldquo;<i>He hath turned the shadow of death into the morning</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+He remembered all this; he could connect his trouble with the trouble
+of others; he could give it a place in the dispensation of things, and
+could therefore lift himself above it.</p>
+<p>He had now been in Manchester a fortnight, and his little store had
+dwindled down to five shillings.&nbsp; It was Saturday night.&nbsp;
+On the Sunday, as his last chance, he meant to write to Mr. Bradshaw.&nbsp;
+He went out on the Sunday morning, and had persuaded his wife to accompany
+him.&nbsp; They entered the first place of worship they saw.&nbsp; It
+was a Methodist chapel, and the preacher was Arminian in the extreme.&nbsp;
+It was the first time Zachariah had ever been present at a Methodist
+service.&nbsp; The congregation sang with much fervour, and during the
+prayer, which was very long, they broke in upon it with ejaculations
+of their own, such as &ldquo;Hear him, O Lord!&rdquo; - &ldquo;Lord
+have mercy on us!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The preacher spoke a broad Lancashire dialect, and was very dramatic.&nbsp;
+He pictured God&rsquo;s efforts to save a soul.&nbsp; Under the pulpit
+ledge was the imaginary bottomless pit of this world - not of the next.&nbsp;
+He leaned over and pretended to be drawing the soul up with a cord.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;He comes, he comes!&rdquo; he cried; &ldquo;God be praised he
+is safe!&rdquo; and he landed him on the Bible.&nbsp; The congregation
+gave a great groan of relief.&nbsp; &ldquo;There he is on the Rock of
+Ages!&nbsp; No, no, he slips; the Devil has him!&rdquo;&nbsp; The preacher
+tried to rescue him: &ldquo;He is gone - gone!&rdquo; and he bent over
+the pulpit in agony.&nbsp; The people almost shrieked.&nbsp; &ldquo;Gone
+- gone!&rdquo; he said again with most moving pathos, and was still
+for a moment.&nbsp; Then gathering himself up, he solemnly repeated
+the terrible verses: &ldquo;<i>For it is impossible for those who were
+once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
+partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and
+the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them
+again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of
+God afresh, and put Him to an open shame</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp; Zachariah
+knew that text well.&nbsp; Round it had raged the polemics of ages.&nbsp;
+Mr. Bradshaw had never referred to it but once, and all the elder members
+of his congregation were eager in the extreme to hear what he had to
+say about it.&nbsp; He boldly declared that it had nothing to do with
+the elect.&nbsp; He was compelled to do so.&nbsp; Following his master
+Calvin, he made it apply to outsiders.&nbsp; The elect, says Calvin,
+are beyond the risk of fatal fall.&nbsp; But &ldquo;I deny,&rdquo; he
+goes on to say, that &ldquo;there is any reason why God may not bestow
+even on the reprobate a taste of His favour; may irradiate their minds
+with some scintillations of His light; may touch them with some sense
+of His goodness; may somehow engrave His word on their minds.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Horrible, most horrible, we scream, that the Almighty should thus play
+with those whom He means to destroy; but let us once more remember that
+these men did not idly believe in such cruelty.&nbsp; They were forced
+into their belief by the demands of their understanding, and their assent
+was more meritorious than the weak protests of so-called enlightenment.&nbsp;
+Zachariah, pondering absently on what he had heard, was passing out
+of the chapel when a hand was gently laid on his shoulder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, friend, what are you doing here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He turned round and recognised William Ogden, who had been sent by
+the Hampden Club in Manchester some six months before as a delegate
+to the Friends of the People in London.&nbsp; The two walked some distance
+together, and Zachariah gave him the history of the last three weeks.&nbsp;
+With the murder he was, of course, acquainted.&nbsp; Ogden was a letterpress
+printer, and when he heard that Zachariah was in such straits, he said
+that he thought he might perhaps find him a job for the present, and
+told him to come to his office on the following morning.&nbsp; Zachariah&rsquo;s
+heart rejoiced that his bread would not fail, but he characteristically
+rejoiced even more at this signal proof that his trust in his God was
+justified.&nbsp; When he reached home he proposed to his wife that they
+should at once kneel down and thank God for His mercy.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course, Zachariah; but you are not yet sure you will get
+anything.&nbsp; I will take off my things directly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Need you wait to take off your things, my dear?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really, Zachariah, you do make such strange remarks sometimes.&nbsp;
+I need not wait; but I am sure it will be more becoming, and it will
+give you an opportunity to think over what you are going to say.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Accordingly Mrs. Coleman retired for about five minutes.&nbsp; On
+her return she observed that it was the time for regular family prayer,
+and she produced the Bible.&nbsp; Zachariah had indeed had the opportunity
+to think, and he had thought very rapidly.&nbsp; The mere opening of
+the sacred Book, however, always acted as a spell, and when its heavy
+lids fell down on either side the room cleared itself of all haunting,
+intrusive evil spirits.&nbsp; He read the seventeenth chapter of Exodus,
+the story of the water brought out of the rock; and he thanked the Almighty
+with great earnestness for the favour shown him, never once expressing
+a doubt that he would not be successful.&nbsp; He was not mistaken,
+for Ogden had a place for him, just as good and just as permanent as
+the one he had left in London.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER X - DISINTEGRATION BY DEGREES</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>We must now advance a little more rapidly.&nbsp; It was in the beginning
+of 1815 that Zachariah found himself settled in Manchester.&nbsp; That
+eventful year passed without any external change, so far as he was concerned.&nbsp;
+He became a member of the Hampden Club, to which Ogden and Bamford belonged;
+but he heard nothing of Maitland nor of Caillaud.&nbsp; He had a letter
+now and then from Mr. Bradshaw and it was a sore trial to him that nobody
+could be found in Manchester to take the place of that worthy man of
+God.&nbsp; He could not attach himself definitely to any church in the
+town, and the habit grew upon him of wandering into this or the other
+chapel as his fancy led him.&nbsp; His comrades often met on Sunday
+evenings.&nbsp; At first he would not go; but he was afterwards persuaded
+to do so.&nbsp; The reasons which induced him to alter his mind were,
+in the first place, the piety, methodistic most of it, which was then
+mixed up with politics; and secondly, a growing fierceness of temper,
+which made the cause of the people a religion.&nbsp; From 1816 downwards
+it may be questioned whether he would not have felt himself more akin
+with any of his democratic friends, who were really in earnest over
+the great struggle, than with a sleek half Tory professor of the gospel,
+however orthodox he might have been.&nbsp; In 1816 the situation of
+the working classes had become almost intolerable.&nbsp; Towards the
+end of the year wheat rose to a quarter, and incendiarism was common
+all over England.&nbsp; A sense of insecurity and terror took possession
+of everybody.&nbsp; Secret outrages, especially fires by night, chill
+the courage of the bravest, as those know well enough who have lived
+in an agricultural county, when, just before going to bed, great lights
+are seen on the horizon; when men and women collect on bridges or on
+hill tops, asking &ldquo;Where is it?&rdquo; and when fire-engines tearing
+through the streets arrive useless at their journey&rsquo;s end because
+the hose has been cut.&nbsp; One evening in November 1816, Zachariah
+was walking home to his lodgings.&nbsp; A special meeting of the club
+had been called for the following Sunday to consider a proposal made
+for a march of the unemployed upon London.&nbsp; Three persons passed
+him - two men and a woman - who turned round and looked at him and then
+went on.&nbsp; He did not recognise them, but he noticed that they stopped
+opposite a window, and as he came up they looked at him again.&nbsp;
+He could not be mistaken; they were the Major, Caillaud, and his daughter.&nbsp;
+The most joyous recognition followed, and Zachariah insisted on their
+going home with him.&nbsp; It often happens that we become increasingly
+intimate with one another even when we are shut out from all intercourse.&nbsp;
+Zachariah had not seen the Major nor Caillaud nor Pauline for two years,
+and not a single thought had been interchanged.&nbsp; Nevertheless he
+was much nearer and dearer to them than he was before.&nbsp; He had
+unconsciously moved on a line rapidly sweeping round into parallelism
+with theirs.&nbsp; The relationship between himself and his wife during
+those two years had become, not openly hostile, it is true, but it was
+neutral.&nbsp; Long ago he had given up the habit of talking to her
+about politics, the thing which lay nearest to his heart just then.&nbsp;
+The pumping effort of bringing out a single sentence in her presence
+on any abstract topic was incredible, and so he learned at last to come
+home, though his heart and mind were full to bursting, and say nothing
+more to her than that he had seen her friend Mrs. Sykes, or bought his
+tea at a different shop.&nbsp; On the other hand, the revolutionary
+literature of the time, and more particularly Byron, increasingly interested
+him.&nbsp; The very wildness and remoteness of Byron&rsquo;s romance
+was just what suited him.&nbsp; It is all very well for the happy and
+well-to-do to talk scornfully of poetic sentimentality.&nbsp; Those
+to whom a natural outlet for their affection is denied know better.&nbsp;
+They instinctively turn to books which are the farthest removed from
+commonplace and are in a sense unreal.&nbsp; Not to the prosperous man,
+a dweller in beautiful scenery, well married to an intelligent wife,
+is Byron precious, but to the poor wretch, say some City clerk, with
+an aspiration beyond his desk, who has two rooms in Camberwell and who
+before he knew what he was doing made a marriage - well - which was
+a mistake, but who is able to turn to that island in the summer sea,
+where dwells Kaled, his mistress - Kaled, the Dark Page disguised as
+a man, who watches her beloved dying:</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;Who nothing fears, nor feels, nor heeds, nor sees,<br />Save
+that damp brow which rests upon his knees;<br />Save that pale aspect,
+where the eye, though dim,<br />Held all the light that shone on earth
+for him.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>When they came indoors, and Mrs. Zachariah heard on the stairs the
+tramp of other feet besides those of her husband, she prepared herself
+to be put out of temper.&nbsp; Not that she could ever be really surprised.&nbsp;
+She was not one of those persons who keep a house orderly for the sake
+of appearances.&nbsp; She would have been just the same if she had been
+living alone, shipwrecked on a solitary island in the Pacific.&nbsp;
+She was the born natural enemy of dirt, dust, untidiness, and of every
+kind of irregularity, as the cat is the born natural enemy of the mouse.&nbsp;
+The sight of dirt, in fact, gave her a quiet kind of delight, because
+she foresaw the pleasure of annihilating it.&nbsp; Irregularity was
+just as hateful to her.&nbsp; She could not sit still if one ornament
+on the mantelpiece looked one way and the other another way, and she
+would have risen from her deathbed, if she could have done so, to put
+a chair straight.&nbsp; She was not, therefore, aggrieved in expectancy
+because she was not fit to be seen.&nbsp; It was rather because she
+resented any interruption of domestic order of which she had not been
+previously forewarned.&nbsp; As it happened, however the Major came
+first, and striding into the room, he shook her hand with considerable
+fervour and kissed it gallantly.&nbsp; Her gathering ill-temper disappeared
+with the promptitude of a flash.&nbsp; It was a muddy night; the Major
+had not carefully wiped his boots, and the footmarks were all over the
+floor.&nbsp; She saw them, but they were nothing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear Mrs. Coleman, how are you?&nbsp; What a blessing to
+be here again in your comfortable quarters.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really, Major Maitland, it is very good of you to say so.&nbsp;
+I am very glad to see you again.&nbsp; Where have you been?&nbsp; I
+thought we had lost you for ever.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Caillaud and his daughter had followed.&nbsp; They bowed to her formally,
+and she begged them to be seated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then, my dear madam,&rdquo; continued the Major, laughing,
+&ldquo;you must have thought me dead.&nbsp; You might have known that
+if I had not been dead I must have come back.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She coloured just a trifle, but made no reply further than to invite
+all the company to have supper.</p>
+<p>Zachariah was somewhat surprised.&nbsp; He did not know what sort
+of a supper it could be; but he was silent.&nbsp; She asked Pauline
+to take off her bonnet, and then proceeded to lay the cloth.&nbsp; For
+five minutes, or perhaps ten minutes, she disappeared, and then there
+came, not only bread and cheese, but cold ham, a plentiful supply of
+beer, and, more wonderful still, a small cold beefsteak pie.&nbsp; Everything
+was produced as easily as if it had been the ordinary fare, and Zachariah
+was astonished at his wife&rsquo;s equality to the emergency.&nbsp;
+Whence she obtained the ham and beefsteak pie he could not conjecture.&nbsp;
+She apologised for having nothing hot; would have had something better
+if she had known, etc., etc., and then sat down at the head of the table.&nbsp;
+The Major sat on her right, Pauline next to him, and opposite to Pauline,
+Caillaud and Zachariah.&nbsp; Their hostess immediately began to ask
+questions about the events of that fatal night when they all left London.</p>
+<p>The Major, however, interposed, and said that it would perhaps be
+better if nothing was said upon that subject.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A dismal topic,&rdquo; he observed; &ldquo;talking about it
+can do no good, and I for one don&rsquo;t want to be upset by thinking
+about it just before I go to bed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;At least,&rdquo; said Zachariah, &ldquo;you can tell us why
+you are in Manchester?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; replied the Major.&nbsp; &ldquo;In the first
+place, Paris is not quite so pleasant as it used to be; London, too,
+is not attractive; and we thought that, on the whole, Manchester was
+to be preferred.&nbsp; Moreover, a good deal will have to be done during
+the next twelvemonth, and Manchester will do it.&nbsp; You will hear
+all about it when your club meets next time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been in Paris?&rdquo; said Mrs. Zachariah.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t it very wicked?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, that depends on what you call wicked.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Surely there cannot be two opinions on that point.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It does seem so; and yet when you live abroad you find that
+things which are made a great deal of here are not thought so much of
+there; and, what is very curious, they think other things very wrong
+there of which we take no account here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Is that because they are not Christians?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh dear no; I am speaking of good Christian people; at least
+so I take them to be.&nbsp; And really, when you come to consider it,
+we all of us make a great fuss about our own little bit of virtue, and
+undervalue the rest - I cannot tell upon whose authority.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But are they not, Major, dreadfully immoral in France?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pauline leaned over her plate and looked Mrs. Coleman straight in
+the face.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mrs. Coleman, you are English; you - &rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her father put up his hand; he foresaw what was coming, and that
+upon this subject Pauline would have defied all the rules of hospitality.&nbsp;
+So he replied calmly, but with the calm of suppressed force:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mrs. Coleman, as my daughter says, you are English; you are
+excusable.&nbsp; I will not dispute with you, but I will tell you a
+little story.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Will you not take some more beer, Mr. Caillaud, before you
+begin?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, thank you, madam, I have finished.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Caillaud pushed away his plate, on which three parts of what was
+given him, including all the ham, remained untouched, and began - his
+Gallicisms and broken English have been corrected in the version now
+before the reader:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;In 1790 a young man named Dupin was living in Paris, in the
+house of his father, who was a banker there.&nbsp; The Dupins were rich,
+and the son kept a mistress, a girl named Victorine.&nbsp; Dupin the
+younger had developed into one of the worst of men.&nbsp; He was strictly
+correct in all his dealings, sober, guilty of none of the riotous excesses
+which often distinguish youth at that age, and most attentive to business;
+but he was utterly self-regarding, hard, and emotionless.&nbsp; What
+could have induced Victorine to love him I do not know; but love him
+she did, and her love instead of being a folly, was her glory.&nbsp;
+If love were always to be in proportion to desert, measured out in strictest
+and justest huckstering conformity therewith, what a poor thing it would
+be!&nbsp; The love at least of a woman is as the love of the Supreme
+Himself, and just as magnificent.&nbsp; Victorine was faithful to Dupin;
+and poor and handsome as she was, never wronged him by a loose look.&nbsp;
+Well, Dupin&rsquo;s father said his son must marry, and the son saw
+how reasonable and how necessary the proposal was.&nbsp; He did marry,
+and he cut himself adrift from Victorine without the least compunction,
+allowing her a small sum weekly, insufficient to keep her.&nbsp; There
+was no scene when they parted, for his determination was communicated
+to her by letter.&nbsp; Three months afterwards she had a child of whom
+he was the father.&nbsp; Did she quietly take the money and say nothing?&nbsp;
+Did she tear up the letter in a frenzy and return him the fragments?&nbsp;
+She did neither.&nbsp; She wrote to him and told him that she would
+not touch his gold.&nbsp; She would never forget him, but she could
+not be beholden to him now for a crust of bread.&nbsp; She had done
+no wrong hitherto - so she said, Mrs. Coleman; I only repeat her words
+- they are not mine.&nbsp; But to live on him after he had left her
+would be a mortal crime.&nbsp; So they separated, a victim she - both
+victims, I may say - to this cursed thing we call Society.&nbsp; One
+of the conditions on which the money was to have been given was, that
+she should never again recognise him in any way whatever.&nbsp; This
+half of the bargain she faithfully observed.&nbsp; For some months she
+was alone, trying to keep herself and her child, but at last she was
+taken up by a working stone-mason named Legouv&eacute;.&nbsp; In 1793
+came the Terror, and the Dupins were denounced and thrown into the Luxembourg.&nbsp;
+Legouv&eacute; was one of the Committee of Public Safety.&nbsp; It came
+to the recollection of the younger Dupin as he lay expecting death that
+he had heard that the girl Victorine had gone to live with Legouv&eacute;,
+and a ray of light dawned on him in his dungeon.&nbsp; He commissioned
+his wife to call on Victorine and implore her to help them.&nbsp; She
+did so.&nbsp; Ah, that was a wonderful sight - so like the Revolution!&nbsp;
+Madame Dupin, in her silks and satins, had often passed the ragged Victorine
+in the streets, and, of course, had never taken the slightest notice
+of her.&nbsp; Now Madame was kneeling to her!&nbsp; Respectability was
+in the dust before that which was not by any means respectable; the
+legitimate before the illegitimate!&nbsp; Oh, it was, I say, a wonderful
+sight in Victorine&rsquo;s wretched garret!&nbsp; She was touched with
+pity, and, furthermore, the memory of her old days with Dupin and her
+love for him revived.&nbsp; Legouv&eacute; was frightfully jealous,
+and she knew that if she pleaded Dupin&rsquo;s cause before him she
+would make matters worse.&nbsp; A sudden thought struck her.&nbsp; She
+went to Couthon and demanded an audience.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Couthon,&rsquo; she said, &lsquo;are the Dupins to
+die?&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Yes, to-morrow.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Dupin the younger is the father of my child.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;And he has deserted you, and you hate him.&nbsp; He
+shall die.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Pardon me, I do not hate him.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Ah, you love him still; but that is no reason why he
+should be spared, my pretty one.&nbsp; We must do our duty.&nbsp; They
+are plotters against the Republic, and must go.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Couthon, they must live.&nbsp; Consider; shall that
+man ascend the scaffold with the thought in his heart that I could have
+rescued him, and that I did not; that I have had my revenge?&nbsp; Besides,
+what will be said? - that the Republic uses justice to satisfy private
+vengeance.&nbsp; All the women in my quarter know who I am.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;That is a fancy.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;&lsquo;Fancy!&nbsp; Is it a fancy to murder Dupin&rsquo;s
+wife - murder all that is good in her - murder the belief in her for
+ever that there is such a thing as generosity?&nbsp; You do not wish
+to kill the soul?&nbsp; That is the way with tyrants, but not with the
+Republic.&rsquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thus Victorine strove with Couthon, and he at last yielded.&nbsp;
+Dupin and his father were released that night, and before daybreak they
+were all out of Paris and safe.&nbsp; In the morning Legouv&eacute;
+found that they were liberated, and on asking Couthon the reason, was
+answered with a smile that they had an eloquent advocate.&nbsp; Victorine
+had warned Couthon not to mention her name, and he kept his promise;
+but Legouv&eacute; conjectured but too truly.&nbsp; He went home, and
+in a furious rage taxed Victorine with infidelity to him, in favour
+of the man who had abandoned her.&nbsp; He would not listen to her,
+and thrust her from him with curses.&nbsp; I say nothing more about
+her history.&nbsp; I will only say this, that Pauline is that child
+who was born to her after Dupin left her.&nbsp; I say it because I am
+so proud that Pauline has had such a mother!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Pauline her daughter!&rdquo; said Zachariah.&nbsp; &ldquo;I
+thought she was your daughter.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She is my daughter: I became her father.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Everybody was silent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, you say nothing,&rdquo; said Caillaud; &ldquo;I am not
+surprised.&nbsp; You are astonished.&nbsp; Well may you be so that such
+a creature should ever have lived.&nbsp; What would Jesus Christ have
+said to her?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The company soon afterwards rose to go.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-bye, Mrs. Coleman,&rdquo; said the Major in his careless
+way; &ldquo;I am glad to find Manchester does not disagree with you.&nbsp;
+At least, I should think it does not.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no, Major Maitland, I like it quite as well as London.&nbsp;
+Mind, you promise to come again <i>soon</i> - very soon.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Major had gone downstairs first.&nbsp; She had followed him to
+the first landing, and then returned to bid Pauline and Caillaud good-bye.&nbsp;
+She stood like a statue while Pauline put on her hat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-night, madam,&rdquo; said Caillaud, slightly bowing.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-night, madam,&rdquo; said Pauline, not bowing in the
+least.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-night,&rdquo; she replied, without relaxing her rigidity.</p>
+<p>As soon as they were in the street Pauline said, &ldquo;Father, I
+abhor that woman.&nbsp; If she lives she will kill her husband.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Coleman, on the other hand, at the same moment said, &ldquo;Zachariah,
+Pauline and Caillaud cannot come to this house again.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why not, Zachariah?&nbsp; I am astonished at you!&nbsp; The
+child of a woman who lived in open sin!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He made no reply.&nbsp; Years ago not a doubt would have crossed
+his mind.&nbsp; That a member of Mr. Bradshaw&rsquo;s church could receive
+such people as Caillaud and Pauline would have seemed impossible.&nbsp;
+Nevertheless, neither Caillaud nor Pauline were now repugnant to him;
+nor did he feel that any soundless gulf separated them from him, although,
+so far as he knew his opinions had undergone no change.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Coleman forbore to pursue the subject, for her thoughts went
+off upon another theme, and she was inwardly wondering whether the Major
+would ever invite her to the theatre again.&nbsp; Just as she was going
+to sleep, the figure of the Major hovering before her eyes, she suddenly
+bethought herself that Pauline, if not handsome, was attractive.&nbsp;
+She started, and lay awake for an hour.&nbsp; When she rose in the morning
+the same thought again presented itself, to dwell with her hence forwards,
+and to gnaw her continually like vitriol.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI - POLITICS AND PAULINE</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Soon after this visit debates arose in Zachariah&rsquo;s club which
+afterwards ended in the famous march of the Blanketeers, as they were
+called.&nbsp; Matters were becoming very serious, and the Government
+was thoroughly alarmed, as well it might be, at the discontent which
+was manifest all over the country.&nbsp; The Prince Regent was insulted
+as he went to open Parliament, and the windows of his carriage were
+broken.&nbsp; It was thought, and with some reason, that the army could
+not be trusted.&nbsp; One thing is certain, that the reformers found
+their way into the barracks at Knightsbridge and had lunch there at
+the expense of the soldiers, who discussed Hone&rsquo;s pamphlets and
+roared with laughter over the <i>Political Litany</i>.&nbsp; The Prince
+Regent communicated to both Houses certain papers, and recommended that
+they should at once be taken into consideration.&nbsp; They contained
+evidence, so the royal message asserted, of treasonable combinations
+&ldquo;to alienate the affections of His Majesty&rsquo;s subjects from
+His Majesty&rsquo;s person and Government,&rdquo; &amp;c.&nbsp; Secret
+committees were appointed to consider them both by Lords and Commons,
+and in about a fortnight they made their reports.&nbsp; The text was
+the Spitalfields meeting of the preceding 2nd of December.&nbsp; A mob
+had made it an excuse to march through the city and plunder some shops.&nbsp;
+Some of the charges brought against the clubs by the Lords&rsquo; Committee
+do not now seem so very appalling.&nbsp; One was, that they were agitating
+for universal suffrage and annual Parliaments - &ldquo;projects,&rdquo;
+say the Committee, &ldquo;which evidently involve, not any qualified
+or partial change but a total subversion of the British constitution.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Another charge was the advocacy of &ldquo;parochial partnership in land,
+on the principle that the landholders are not proprietors in chief;
+that they are but stewards of the public; that the land is the people&rsquo;s
+farm; that landed monopoly is contrary to the spirit of Christianity
+and destructive of the independence and morality of mankind.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+The Reform party in Parliament endeavoured to prove that the country
+was in no real danger, and that the singularly harsh measures proposed
+were altogether unnecessary.&nbsp; That was true.&nbsp; There was nothing
+to be feared, because there was no organisation; but nevertheless, especially
+in the manufacturing towns, the suffering was fearful and the hatred
+of the Government most bitter.&nbsp; What is so lamentable in the history
+of those times is the undisciplined wildness and feebleness of the attempts
+made by the people to better themselves.&nbsp; Nothing is more saddening
+than the spectacle of a huge mass of humanity goaded, writhing, starving,
+and yet so ignorant that it cannot choose capable leaders, cannot obey
+them if perchance it gets them, and does not even know how to name its
+wrongs.&nbsp; The governing classes are apt to mistake the absurdity
+of the manner in which a popular demand expresses itself for absurdity
+of the demand itself; but in truth the absurdity of the expression makes
+the demand more noteworthy and terrible.&nbsp; Bamford, when he came
+to London in the beginning of 1817, records the impression which the
+clubs made upon him.&nbsp; He went to several and found them all alike;
+&ldquo;each man with his porter-pot before him and a pipe in his mouth;
+many speaking at once, more talkers than thinkers; more speakers than
+listeners.&nbsp; Presently &lsquo;Order&rsquo; would be called, and
+comparative silence would ensue; a speaker, stranger or citizen, would
+be announced with much courtesy and compliment.&nbsp; &lsquo;Hear, hear,
+hear&rsquo; would follow, with clapping of hands and knocking of knuckles
+on the tables, till the half-pints danced; then a speech, with compliments
+to some brother orator or popular statesman; next a resolution in favour
+of Parliamentary Reform, and a speech to second it; an amendment on
+some minor point would follow; a seconding of that; a breach of order
+by some individual of warm temperament; half a dozen would rise to set
+him right; a dozen to put them down; and the vociferation and gesticulation
+would become loud and confounding.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Manchester clubs had set their hearts upon an expedition to London
+- thousands strong; each man with a blanket to protect him and a petition
+in his hand.&nbsp; The discussion on this project was long and eager.&nbsp;
+The Major, Caillaud and Zachariah steadfastly opposed it; not because
+of its hardihood, but because of its folly.&nbsp; They were outvoted;
+but they conceived themselves loyally bound to make it a success.&nbsp;
+Zachariah and Caillaud were not of much use in organisation, and the
+whole burden fell upon the Major.&nbsp; Externally gay, and to most
+persons justifying the charge of frivolity, he was really nothing of
+the kind when he had once settled down to the work he was born to do.&nbsp;
+His levity was the mere idle sport of a mind unattached and seeking
+its own proper object.&nbsp; He was like a cat, which will play with
+a ball or its own tail in the sunshine, but if a mouse or a bird crosses
+its path will fasten on it with sudden ferocity.&nbsp; He wrought like
+a slave during the two months before the eventful 10th March 1817, and
+well nigh broke his heart over the business.&nbsp; Everything had to
+be done subterraneously; for though the Habeas Corpus Act was not yet
+suspended, preparations for what looked like war were perilous.&nbsp;
+But this was not the greatest difficulty.&nbsp; He pleaded for dictatorial
+powers, and at once found he had made himself suspected thereby.&nbsp;
+He was told bluntly that working men did not mean to exchange one despot
+for another, and that they were just as good as he was.&nbsp; Any other
+man would have thrown up his commission in disgust, but not so Major
+Maitland.&nbsp; He persevered unflaggingly, although a sub-committee
+had been appointed to act with him and check his proceedings.&nbsp;
+The secretary of this very sub-committee, who was also treasurer, was
+one of the causes of the failure of the enterprise, for when the march
+began neither he nor the funds with which he had been entrusted could
+be found.&nbsp; After the club meetings in the evening there was often
+an adjournment to Caillaud&rsquo;s lodgings, where the Major, Zachariah,
+Caillaud, and Pauline sat up till close upon midnight.&nbsp; One evening
+there was an informal conference of this kind prior to the club meeting
+on the following night.&nbsp; The Major was not present, for he was
+engaged in making some arrangements for the commissariat on the march.&nbsp;
+He had always insisted on it that they were indispensable, and he had
+been bitterly opposed the week before by some of his brethren, who were
+in favour of extempore foraging which looked very much like plunder.&nbsp;
+He carried his point, notwithstanding some sarcastic abuse and insinuations
+of half-heartedness, which had touched also Caillaud and Zachariah,
+who supported him.&nbsp; Zachariah was much depressed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Coleman, you are dull,&rdquo; said Pauline.&nbsp; &ldquo;What
+is the matter?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dull! - that&rsquo;s not exactly the word.&nbsp; I was thinking
+of to-morrow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah!&nbsp; I thought so.&nbsp; Well?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah hesitated a little.&nbsp; &ldquo;Is it worth all the trouble?&rdquo;
+at last he said, an old familiar doubt recurring to him - &ldquo;Is
+it worth all the trouble to save them?&nbsp; What are they? - and, after
+all, what can we do for them?&nbsp; Suppose we succeed, and a hundred
+thousand creatures like those who blackguarded us last week get votes,
+and get their taxes reduced, and get all they want, what then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pauline broke in with all the eagerness of a woman who is struck
+with an idea - &ldquo;Stop, stop, Mr. Coleman.&nbsp; Here is the mistake
+you make.&nbsp; Grant it all - grant your achievement is ridiculously
+small - is it not worth the sacrifice of two or three like you and me
+to accomplish it?&nbsp; That is our error.&nbsp; We think ourselves
+of such mighty importance.&nbsp; The question is, whether we are of
+such importance, and whether the progress of the world one inch will
+not be cheaply purchased by the annihilation of a score of us.&nbsp;
+You believe in what you call salvation.&nbsp; You would struggle and
+die to save a soul; but in reality you can never save a man; you must
+be content to struggle and die to save a little bit of him - to prevent
+one habit from descending to his children.&nbsp; You won&rsquo;t save
+him wholly, but you may arrest the propagation of an evil trick, and
+so improve a trifle - just a trifle - whole generations to come.&nbsp;
+Besides, I don&rsquo;t believe what you will do is nothing.&nbsp; &lsquo;Give
+a hundred thousand blackguard creatures votes&rsquo; - well, that is
+something.&nbsp; You are disappointed they do not at once become converted
+and all go to chapel.&nbsp; That is not the way of the Supreme.&nbsp;
+Your hundred thousand get votes, and perhaps are none the better, and
+die as they were before they had votes.&nbsp; But the Supreme has a
+million, or millions, of years before Him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah was silent.&nbsp; Fond of dialectic, he generally strove
+to present the other side; but he felt no disposition to do so now,
+and he tried rather to connect what she had said with something which
+he already believed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;True,&rdquo; he said at last; &ldquo;true, or true in part.&nbsp;
+What are we? - what are we?&rdquo; and so Pauline&rsquo;s philosophy
+seemed to reconcile itself with one of his favourite dogmas, but it
+had not quite the same meaning which it had for him ten years ago.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Besides,&rdquo; said Caillaud, &ldquo;we hate Liverpool and
+all his crew.&nbsp; When I think of that speech at the opening of Parliament
+I become violent.&nbsp; There it is; I have stuck it up over the mantelpiece:</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Deeply as I lament the pressure of these evils upon the
+country, I am sensible that they are of a nature not to admit of an
+immediate remedy.&nbsp; But whilst I observe with peculiar satisfaction
+the fortitude with which so many privations have been borne, and the
+active benevolence which has been employed to mitigate them, I am persuaded
+that the great sources of our national prosperity are essentially unimpaired;
+and I entertain a confident expectation that the native energy of the
+country will at no distant period surmount all the difficulties in which
+we are involved</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;My God,&rdquo; continued Caillaud, &ldquo;I could drive a
+knife into the heart of the man who thus talks!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No murder, Caillaud,&rdquo; said Zachariah.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, no.&nbsp; What is it but a word?&nbsp; Let us say sacrifice.&nbsp;
+Do you call the death of your Charles a murder?&nbsp; No; and the reason
+why you do not is what?&nbsp; Not that it was decreed by a Court.&nbsp;
+There have been many murders decreed by Courts according to law.&nbsp;
+Was not the death of your Jesus Christ a murder?&nbsp; Murder means
+death for base, selfish ends.&nbsp; What said Jesus - that He came to
+send a sword?&nbsp; Of course He did.&nbsp; Every idea is a sword.&nbsp;
+What a God He was!&nbsp; He was the first who ever cared for the people
+- for the real people, the poor, the ignorant, the fools, the weak-minded,
+the slaves.&nbsp; The Greeks and Romans thought nothing of these.&nbsp;
+I salute thee, O Thou Son of the People!&rdquo; and Caillaud took down
+a little crucifix which, strange to say, always hung in his room, and
+reverently inclined himself to it.&nbsp; &ldquo;A child of the people,&rdquo;
+he continued, &ldquo;in everything, simple, foolish, wise, ragged, Divine,
+martyred Hero.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah was not astonished at this melodramatic display, for he
+knew Caillaud well; and although this was a little more theatrical than
+anything he had ever seen before, it was not out of keeping with his
+friend&rsquo;s character.&nbsp; Nor was it insincere, for Caillaud was
+not an Englishman.&nbsp; Moreover, there is often more insincerity in
+purposely lowering the expression beneath the thought, and denying the
+thought thereby, than in a little exaggeration.&nbsp; Zachariah, although
+he was a Briton, had no liking for that hypocrisy which takes a pride
+in reducing the extraordinary to the commonplace, and in forcing an
+ignoble form upon that which is highest.&nbsp; The conversation went
+no further.&nbsp; At last Caillaud said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come, Pauline, a tune; we have not had one for a long time.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pauline smiled, and went into her little room.&nbsp; Meanwhile her
+father removed chairs and table, piling them one on another so as to
+leave a clear space.&nbsp; He and Zachariah crouched into the recess
+by the fireplace.&nbsp; Pauline entered in the self same short black
+dress trimmed with red, with the red artificial flower, wearing the
+same red stockings and dancing-slippers, but without the shawl.&nbsp;
+The performance this time was not quite what it was when Zachariah had
+seen it in London.&nbsp; Between herself and the corner where Zachariah
+and her father were seated she now had an imaginary partner, before
+whom she advanced, receded, bowed, displayed herself in the most exquisitely
+graceful attitudes, never once overstepping the mark, and yet showing
+every limb and line to the utmost advantage.&nbsp; Zachariah, as before,
+followed every movement with eager - shall we say with hungry eyes?&nbsp;
+He was so unused to exhibitions of this kind that their grace was not,
+as it should have been, their only charm; for, as we before observed,
+in his chapel circle even ordinary dancing was a thing prohibited.&nbsp;
+The severity of manners to which he had been accustomed tended to produce
+an effect the very opposite to that which was designed; for it can hardly
+be doubted that if it were the custom in England for women to conceal
+the face, a glimpse of an eye or a nose would excite unpleasant thoughts.</p>
+<p>The dance came to an end, and as it was getting late Zachariah rose.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Stop,&rdquo; said Caillaud.&nbsp; &ldquo;It is agreed that
+if they persist on this march, one or the other of us goes too.&nbsp;
+The Major will be sure to go.&nbsp; Which shall it be, you or me?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We will draw lots.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good.&rdquo;&nbsp; And Zachariah departed, Pauline laughingly
+making him one of her costume curtseys.&nbsp; He was very awkward.&nbsp;
+He never knew how to conduct himself becomingly, or with even good manners,
+on commonplace occasions.&nbsp; When he was excited in argument he was
+completely equal to the best company, and he would have held his own
+on level terms at a Duke&rsquo;s dinner-party, provided only the conversation
+were interesting.&nbsp; But when he was not intellectually excited he
+was lubberly.&nbsp; He did not know what response to make to Pauline&rsquo;s
+graceful adieu, and retreated sheepishly.&nbsp; When he got home he
+found his wife waiting for him.&nbsp; The supper was cleared away, and,
+as usual, she was reading, or pretending to be reading, the Bible.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have had supper, of course?&rdquo;&nbsp; There was a peculiar
+tone in the &ldquo;of course,&rdquo; as if she meant to imply not merely
+that it was late, but that he had preferred to have it with somebody
+else.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do not want any.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then we had better have prayers.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII - ONE BODY AND ONE SPIRIT</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Next week Zachariah found it necessary to consult with Caillaud again.&nbsp;
+The Major was to be there.&nbsp; The intended meeting was announced
+to Mrs. Coleman by her husband at breakfast on the day before, and he
+informed her that he should probably be late, and that no supper need
+be kept for him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you never meet here, Zachariah?&nbsp; Why must it always
+be at Caillaud&rsquo;s?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you not say that they should not come to this house again?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; but I meant I did not want to see them as friends.&nbsp;
+On business there is no reason why Caillaud should not come.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I cannot draw the line.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Zachariah, do you mean to call unconverted infidels your friends?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They were his friends - he felt they were - and they were dear to
+him; but he was hardly able as yet to confess it, even to himself.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It will not do,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp; &ldquo;Besides, Caillaud
+will be sure to bring his daughter.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She will not be so bold as to come if she is not asked.&nbsp;
+Do <i>I</i> go with you anywhere except when I am asked?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She has always been used to go out with her father wherever
+he goes.&nbsp; She knows all his affairs, and is very useful to him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;So it seems.&nbsp; She must be <i>very</i> useful.&nbsp; Well,
+if it must be so, and it is on business, invite her too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think still it will be better at Caillaud&rsquo;s; there
+more room.&nbsp; There would be five of us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How do you make five?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is the Major.&nbsp; And why, by the way, do you object
+to Caillaud and Pauline more than the Major?&nbsp; He is not converted.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There is plenty of room here.&nbsp; I didn&rsquo;t say I didn&rsquo;t
+object to the Major.&nbsp; Besides, there is a difference between French
+infidels and English people, even if they are not church members.&nbsp;
+But I see how it is.&nbsp; You want to go there, and you will go.&nbsp;
+I am of no use to you.&nbsp; You care nothing for me.&nbsp; You can
+talk to such dreadful creatures as Caillaud and that woman who lives
+with him, and you never talk to me.&nbsp; Oh, I wish Mr. Bradshaw were
+here, or I were back again at home!&nbsp; What would Mr. Bradshaw say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Coleman covered her face in her hands.&nbsp; Zachariah felt
+no pity.&nbsp; His anger was roused.&nbsp; He was able to say hard things
+at times, and there was even a touch of brutality in him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Whose fault is it that I do not talk to you?&nbsp; When did
+I ever get any help from you?&nbsp; What do you understand about what
+concerns me, and when have you ever tried to understand anything?&nbsp;
+Your home is no home to me.&nbsp; My life is blasted, and it might have
+been different.&nbsp; The meeting shall not be here, and I will do as
+I please.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went out of the room in a rage, and downstairs into the street,
+going straight to his work.&nbsp; It is a terrible moment when the first
+bitter quarrel takes place, and when hatred, even if it be hatred for
+the moment only first finds expression.&nbsp; That moment can never
+be recalled!&nbsp; Is it ever really forgotten, or really forgiven?&nbsp;
+Some of us can call to mind a word, just one word, spoken, twenty, thirty,
+forty, fifty years ago, which rings in our ears even to-day as distinctly
+as when it was uttered, and forces the blood into the head as it did
+then.&nbsp; When Zachariah returned that night he and his wife spoke
+to each other as if nothing had happened, but they spoke only about
+indifferent things.&nbsp; The next day Mrs. Coleman wondered whether,
+after all, he would repent; but the evening came and she waited and
+waited in vain.&nbsp; The poor woman for hours and hours had thought
+one thought and one thought only, until at last she could bear it no
+longer.&nbsp; At about eight o&rsquo;clock she rose, put on her cloak,
+and went out of doors.&nbsp; She made straight for Caillaud&rsquo;s
+house.&nbsp; It was cold, and the sky was clear at intervals, with masses
+of clouds sweeping over the nearly full moon.&nbsp; What she was to
+do when she got to Caillaud&rsquo;s had not entered her head.&nbsp;
+She came to the door and stopped.&nbsp; It had just begun to rain heavily.&nbsp;
+The sitting-room was on the ground-floor, abutting on the pavement.&nbsp;
+The blind was drawn down, but not closely, and she could see inside.&nbsp;
+Caillaud Pauline, and Zachariah were there, but not the Major.&nbsp;
+Caillaud was sitting by the fireside; her husband and Pauline were talking
+earnestly across the table.&nbsp; Apparently both of them were much
+interested, and his face was lighted up as she never saw it when he
+was with her.&nbsp; She was fascinated, and could not move.&nbsp; It
+was a dull lonely street and nobody was to be seen that wet night.&nbsp;
+She had no protection from the weather but her cloak, and in ten minutes,
+as the rain came down more heavily, she was wet through and shivering
+from head to foot - she who was usually so careful, so precise, so singularly
+averse from anything like disorder.&nbsp; Still she watched - watched
+every movement of those two - every smile, every gesture; and when Caillaud
+went out of the room, perhaps to fetch something, she watched with increasing
+and self-forgetting intensity.&nbsp; She had not heard footsteps approaching.&nbsp;
+The wind had risen; the storm was ever fiercer and fiercer, and the
+feverish energy which poured itself into her eyes had drained and deadened
+every other sense.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, my good woman, what do you want?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She turned with a start, and it was the Major!</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mrs. Coleman!&nbsp; Good God! what are you doing here?&nbsp;
+You are soaked.&nbsp; Why don&rsquo;t you come in?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no, Major Maitland indeed I cannot.&nbsp; I - I had been
+out, and I had just stopped a moment.&nbsp; I didn&rsquo;t know it was
+going to rain.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But I say you are dripping.&nbsp; Come in and see you husband;
+he will go with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no, Major, please don&rsquo;t; please don&rsquo;t mention
+it to him; oh no, please don&rsquo;t; he would be very vexed.&nbsp;
+I shall be all right; I will go on at once and dry myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You cannot go alone.&nbsp; I will see you as far as your house.&nbsp;
+Here, take my coat and put it over your shoulders.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Major took off a heavy cloak with capes, wrapped it round her,
+drew her arm through his, and they went to her lodgings.&nbsp; She forgot
+Zachariah, Caillaud, and Pauline.&nbsp; When they arrived she returned
+the cloak and thanked him.&nbsp; She dared not ask him upstairs and
+he made no offer to stay.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Please say nothing to my husband; promise you will not.&nbsp;
+He would be in such a way if he thought I had been out; but I could
+not help it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, certainly not, Mrs. Coleman, if you wish it; though I
+am sure he wouldn&rsquo;t, he couldn&rsquo;t be angry with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She lingered as he took the coat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come inside and put it on, Major Maitland; why, it is you
+who are dripping now.&nbsp; You will not wear that over your sopped
+clothes.&nbsp; Cannot I lend you something?&nbsp; Won&rsquo;t you have
+something hot to drink?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, thank you.&nbsp; I think not; it is not so bad as all
+that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He shook hands with her and had gone.</p>
+<p>She went upstairs into her dark room.&nbsp; The fire was out.&nbsp;
+She lighted no candle, but sat down just as she was, put her head on
+the table, and sobbed as if her heart would break.&nbsp; She was very
+seldom overcome by emotion of this kind, and used to be proud that she
+had never once in her life fainted, and was not given to hysterics.&nbsp;
+Checked at last by a deadly shivering which came over her, she took
+off her wet garments, threw them over a chair, and crept into bed, revolving
+in her mind the explanation which she could give to her husband.&nbsp;
+When she saw him, and he inquired about her clothes, she offered some
+trifling excuse, which seemed very readily to satisfy him, for he made
+scarcely any reply, and was soon asleep.&nbsp; This time it was her
+turn to lie awake, and the morning found her restless, and with every
+symptom of a serious illness approaching.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII - TO THE GREEKS FOOLISHNESS</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Neither Mrs. Coleman nor her husband thought it anything worse than
+a feverish cold, and he went to his work.&nbsp; It was a club night,
+the night on which the final arrangements for the march were to be made,
+and he did not like to be away.&nbsp; His wife was to lie in bed; but
+a woman in the house offered to wait upon her and bring what little
+food she wanted.&nbsp; It was settled at the club that the Major should
+accompany the expedition and Zachariah and Caillaud having drawn lots,
+the lot fell upon Caillaud.&nbsp; A last attempt was made to dissuade
+the majority from the undertaking; but it had been made before, not
+only by our three friends, but by other Lancashire societies, and had
+failed.&nbsp; The only effect its renewal had now was a disagreeable
+and groundless insinuation which was unendurable.&nbsp; On his return
+from the meeting Zachariah was alarmed.&nbsp; His wife was in great
+pain, and had taken next to nothing all day.&nbsp; Late as it was, he
+went for a doctor, who would give no opinion as to the nature of the
+disease then, but merely ordered her some kind of sedative mixture,
+which happily gave her a little sleep.&nbsp; Zachariah was a working
+man and a poor man.&nbsp; Occasionally it does happen that a working
+man and a poor man has nerves, and never does his poverty appear so
+hateful to him as when he has sickness in his house.</p>
+<p>The mere discomforts of poverty are bad enough - the hunger and cold
+of it - but worse than all is the impossibility of being decently ill,
+or decently dying, or of paying any attention to those who take it into
+their heads to be ill or to die.&nbsp; A man tolerably well off can
+at least get his wife some help when she is laid up, and when she is
+near her end can remain with her to take her last kiss and blessing.&nbsp;
+Not so the bricklayer&rsquo;s labourer.&nbsp; If his wife is in bed,
+he must depend upon charity for medicine and attendance.&nbsp; And although
+he knows he will never see her again, he is forced away to the job on
+which he is employed; for if he does not go he will lose it, and must
+apply to the parish for a funeral.&nbsp; Happily the poor are not slow
+to help one another.&nbsp; The present writer has known women who have
+to toil hard all day long, sit up night after night with their neighbours,
+and watch them with the most tender care.&nbsp; Zachariah found it so
+in his case.&nbsp; A fellow-lodger, the mother of half-a-dozen children,
+a woman against whom the Colemans had conceived a prejudice, and whom
+they had avoided, came forward and modestly asked Zachariah if she might
+&ldquo;look after&rdquo; Mrs. Coleman while he was away.&nbsp; He thought
+for a moment of sundry harsh things which he had said about her, and
+then a well-known parable came into his mind about a certain Samaritan,
+and he could have hugged her with joy at her offer.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Carter was one of those healthy, somewhat red-faced, gay creatures
+whom nothing represses.&nbsp; She was never melancholy with those who
+were suffering; not because she had no sympathy for she was profoundly
+sympathetic - but because she was subduable.&nbsp; Her pulse was quick,
+and her heart so sound that her blood, rich and strong - blood with
+never a taint in it - renewed every moment every fibre of her brain.&nbsp;
+Her very presence to those who were desponding was a magnetic charm
+and she could put to flight legions of hypochondriacal fancies with
+a cheery word.&nbsp; Critics said she ruled her husband; but what husband
+would not rejoice in being so ruled?&nbsp; He came home weary and he
+did not want to rule.&nbsp; He wanted to be directed, and he gladly
+saw the reins in the hands of his &ldquo;missus,&rdquo; of whom he was
+justly proud.&nbsp; She conducted all the conversation; she spent his
+money, and even bought him his own clothes; and although she said a
+sharp thing or two now and then, she never really quarrelled with him.&nbsp;
+The eldest of her six children was only twelve years old, and she was
+not over methodical, so that her apartments were rather confused and
+disorderly.&nbsp; She was not, however, dirty, and would not tolerate
+dirt even in her boys, to whom, by the way, she administered very short
+and sharp corrections sometimes.&nbsp; If they came to the table with
+grimy paws, the first intimation they had that their mother noticed
+it was a rap on the knuckles with the handle of a knife which sent the
+bread and butter flying out of their fingers.&nbsp; She read no books,
+and, what was odd in those days, did not go to chapel or church; but
+she had her &ldquo;opinions,&rdquo; as she called them, upon everything
+which was stirring in the world, and never was behindhand in the news.&nbsp;
+She was really happier when she found that she had to look after Mrs.
+Coleman.&nbsp; She bustled about, taking directions from the doctor
+- not without some scepticism, for she had notions of her own on the
+subject of disease - and going up and down stairs continually to see
+how her patient was getting on.&nbsp; It was curious that although she
+was a heavy woman she was so active.&nbsp; She was always on her legs
+from morning to night, and never seemed fatigued.&nbsp; Indeed, when
+she sat still she was rather uncomfortable; and this was her weak point,
+for her restlessness interfered with sewing and mending, which she abominated.</p>
+<p>The time for the march was close at hand.&nbsp; The Habeas Corpus
+Act had meanwhile been suspended and every reformer had to walk very
+warily.&nbsp; Ogden, in whose office it will be remembered that Zachariah
+was engaged, had issued a handbill informing all the inhabitants of
+Manchester and its neighbourhood that on the 10th March a meeting would
+be held near St. Peter&rsquo;s Church of those persons who had determined
+to carry their petitions to London.&nbsp; Zachariah, going to his shop,
+as usual, on the morning of the 10th - a Monday - was astonished to
+find that Ogden was arrested and in prison.</p>
+<p>We must, however, for a time, follow the fortunes of Caillaud and
+the Major on that day.&nbsp; They were both astir at five o&rsquo;clock,
+and joined one another at the club.&nbsp; All the members were to assemble
+there at seven.&nbsp; Never was the Major more despondent.&nbsp; As
+for organisation, there was none, and every proposal he had made had
+been thwarted.&nbsp; He saw well enough, as a soldier, that ten times
+the enthusiasm at his command would never carry a hundred men to London
+in that cold weather, and that if twenty thousand started, the number
+would be the difficulty.&nbsp; The Yeomanry cavalry were under orders
+to oppose them, and what could an undisciplined mob do against a semi-military
+force?&nbsp; The end of it would be the prompt dispersion of the pilgrims
+and the discredit of the cause.&nbsp; Nevertheless, both he and Caillaud
+had determined not to desert it.&nbsp; The absence of all preparations
+on the part of these poor Blanketeers was, in truth, very touching,
+as it showed the innocent confidence which they had in the justice of
+their contention.&nbsp; Their avowed object was to present a petition
+personally to the Prince Regent, that they might &ldquo;undeceive&rdquo;
+him; as if such a thing were possible, or, being possible, would be
+of the slightest service.&nbsp; The whole country would rise and help
+them; their journey would be a triumphal procession; they were not a
+hostile army; the women would come to the doors and offer them bread
+and milk; they would reach London; Lord Liverpool would resign; and
+they would come back to Manchester with banners flying, having saved
+their country.&nbsp; At nine o&rsquo;clock the club was in St. Peter&rsquo;s
+fields, and a kind of platform had been erected, from which an address
+was to be given.&nbsp; Caillaud and the Major were down below.&nbsp;
+Both of them were aghast at what they saw.&nbsp; Thousands of men were
+present with whom they were unacquainted, who had been attracted by
+Ogden&rsquo;s proclamation; some with coats; others without coats; some
+with sticks; some with petitions; but most of them with blankets, which
+they had rolled up like knapsacks.&nbsp; The Major&rsquo;s heart sank
+within him.&nbsp; What on earth could he do?&nbsp; Nothing except accompany
+them and try to prevent collision with the troops.&nbsp; The magistrates
+were distracted by no doubts whatever.&nbsp; They read the Riot Act,
+although there was no riot, nor the semblance of one, and forthwith
+surrounded the platform and carried off everyone on it to prison.&nbsp;
+The crowd was then chased by the soldiers and special constables, till
+all power of combination was at an end.&nbsp; About three hundred however,
+were collected, and found their way to Ardwick Green.&nbsp; They had
+been joined by others on the route, and the Major informally reviewed
+his men.&nbsp; Never, surely, was there such a regiment! never, surely,
+did any regiment go on such an errand!&nbsp; Ragged many of them; ignorant
+all, fanatical, penniless, they determined, in spite of all arguments,
+to proceed.&nbsp; He pointed out that if they could be so easily scattered
+when they were thousands strong, every one of them would be cut down
+or captured before they were twenty miles on the road.&nbsp; He was
+answered as before with contempt and suspicions of cowardice.&nbsp;
+A Methodist, half-starved, grey-haired, with black rings round his eyes
+and a yellow face, harangued them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My friends,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we have been told to go
+back; that we are too few to accomplish the task to which we have set
+ourselves.&nbsp; What said the Lord unto Gideon, Judges vii.: &lsquo;The
+people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites
+into their hands lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine
+own hand hath saved me.&nbsp; Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears
+of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return
+and depart early from Gilead.&rsquo;&nbsp; Well, twenty-two thousand
+went back and at last Gideon had only the three hundred who lapped the
+water.&nbsp; By those three hundred Israel was saved from the Midianites.&nbsp;
+Our thousands have left us; but we shall triumph.&nbsp; It may be the
+Lord&rsquo;s will that more should depart.&nbsp; It may be that there
+are yet too many.&nbsp; I say, then, in the words of Gideon, &lsquo;Whosoever
+is fearful and afraid, let him return.&rsquo;&nbsp; Is there anybody?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+(Loud shouts answered &ldquo;None.&rdquo;)&nbsp; &ldquo;The Lord is
+with us,&rdquo; continued the speaker - &ldquo;the sword of the Lord
+and of Gideon!&rdquo;&nbsp; Every one shouted again.</p>
+<p>Respectable Manchester was frightened when the Blanketeers met, and
+laughed them to scorn when they were dispersed.&nbsp; No wonder at the
+laughter.&nbsp; What could be more absurd?&nbsp; And yet, when we call
+to mind the THING then on the throne; the THING that gave &pound;180
+for an evening coat, and incurred enormous debts, while his people were
+perishing; the THING that drank and lied and whored; the THING that
+never did nor said nor thought anything that was not utterly brutish
+and contemptible - when we think that the THING was a monarch, Heaven-ordained,
+so it was said, on which side does the absurdity really lie?&nbsp; Of
+a truth, not only is the wisdom of this world foolishness, as it ever
+was, but that which to this world is foolishness is adjudged wisdom
+by the Eternal Arbiter.&nbsp; The Blanketeers shivering on Ardwick Green,
+the weavers who afterwards drilled on the Lancashire moors, and were
+hung according to law, or killed at Peterloo, are less ridiculous than
+those who hung or sabred them, less ridiculous than the Crimean war
+and numberless dignified events in human history, the united achievements
+of the sovereigns and ministries of Europe.</p>
+<p>The route of the three hundred was towards Stockport; but when they
+reached the bridge they found it occupied by the Yeomanry and a troop
+of the Life Guards.&nbsp; To attempt to force a passage was impossible;
+but numbers threw themselves into the river, and so crossed.&nbsp; The
+soldiers then withdrew into Stockport town, and the bridge was left
+open to the main body.&nbsp; When they got into the street on the other
+side the soldiers and police dashed at them, and arrested everybody
+whom they could catch.&nbsp; The Major was foremost in the crowd, endeavouring
+to preserve some sort of discipline, and one of the Yeomanry, suspecting
+him to be a leader, rode up to him, and, leaning from his horse, collared
+him.&nbsp; He was unarmed; but he was a powerful man, and wrenched himself
+free.&nbsp; The soldier drew his sword, and although Caillaud was close
+by, and attempted to parry the blow with a stick, the Major lay a dead
+man on the ground.&nbsp; The next moment, however, the soldier himself
+was dead - dead from a pistol-shot fired by Caillaud, who was instantly
+seized, handed over to a guard, and marched off with a score of others
+to Manchester jail.&nbsp; A remnant only of the Blanketeers escaped
+from Stockport, and a smaller remnant got to Macclesfield.&nbsp; There
+there was no shelter for them, and many of them lay in the streets all
+night.&nbsp; When the morning dawned only twenty went on into Staffordshire,
+and these shortly afterwards separated, and wandered back to Manchester.&nbsp;
+The sword of Gideon was, alas! not the sword of the Lord, and aching
+hearts in that bitter March weather felt that there was something worse
+than the cold to be borne at they struggled homewards.&nbsp; Others,
+amongst whom was our Methodist orator, were not discouraged.&nbsp; It
+is a poor religion which makes no provision for disaster, and even for
+apparently final failure.&nbsp; The test of faith is its power under
+defeat, and these silly God-fearing souls argued to themselves that
+their Master&rsquo;s time was not their time; that perhaps they were
+being punished for their sins, and that when it pleased Him they would
+triumph.&nbsp; Essentially right they were, right in every particular,
+excepting, perhaps, that it was not for their own sins that this sore
+visitation came upon them.&nbsp; Visitation for sin it was certainly,
+but a visitation for the sins of others - such is the way of Providence,
+and has been ever since the world began, much to the amazement of many
+reflective persons.&nbsp; Thou hast laid on Him the iniquity of us all,
+and Jesus is crucified rather than the Scribes and Pharisees!&nbsp;
+Yet could we really wish it otherwise?&nbsp; Would it have been better
+in the end that Caiaphas and the elders should have been nailed upon
+Calvary, and Jesus die at a good old age, crowned with honour?&nbsp;
+It was not yet God&rsquo;s time in 1817, but God&rsquo;s time was helped
+forward, as it generally is, by this anticipation of it.&nbsp; It is
+a commonplace that a premature outbreak puts back the hands of the clock
+and is a blunder.&nbsp; Nine times out of ten this is untrue, and a
+revolt instantaneously quenched in blood is not merely the precursor,
+but the direct progenitor of success.</p>
+<p>We will spend no time over the death of Major Maitland.&nbsp; The
+tragic interest, as one of our greatest masters has said, lies not with
+the corpse but with the mourners, and we turn back to Zachariah.&nbsp;
+Ogden&rsquo;s office was shut.&nbsp; On the night after the breakdown
+at Stockport a note in pencil was left at Zachariah&rsquo;s house, in
+Pauline&rsquo;s handwriting.&nbsp; It was very short: - &ldquo;Fly for
+your life - they will have you to-night - P.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Fly for his life!&nbsp; But how could he fly, with his wife in bed
+and with no work before him?&nbsp; Would it not be base to leave her?&nbsp;
+Then it occurred to him that if he were taken and imprisoned, he would
+be altogether incapable of helping her.&nbsp; He determined to speak
+to Mrs. Carter.&nbsp; He showed her the note, and she was troubled with
+no hesitation of any kind.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My good man,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you be off this minute.&nbsp;
+That&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;ve got to do.&nbsp; Never mind your wife;
+I&rsquo;ll see after her.&nbsp; Expense?&nbsp; Lord, Mr. Coleman what&rsquo;s
+that?&nbsp; She don&rsquo;t eat much.&nbsp; Besides, we&rsquo;ll settle
+all about that afterwards.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah hesitated.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now don&rsquo;t stand shilly-shallying and a-thinking and
+a-thinking, - that never did anybody any good.&nbsp; I can&rsquo;t a-bear
+a man as thinks and thinks when there&rsquo;s anything to be done as
+plain as the nose in his face.&nbsp; Where&rsquo;s your bag?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Carter was out of the room in an instant, and in ten minutes
+came back with a change of clothes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Now, let us know where you are; but don&rsquo;t send your
+letters here.&nbsp; You write to my sister; there&rsquo;s her address.&nbsp;
+You needn&rsquo;t go up there; your wife&rsquo;s asleep.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ll
+bid her good-bye for you.&nbsp; Take my advice - get out of this county
+somewhere, and get out of Manchester to-night.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I must go upstairs to get some money,&rdquo; and Zachariah
+stole into his bedroom to take half a little hoard which was in a desk
+there.&nbsp; His wife, as Mrs. Carter had said, was asleep.&nbsp; He
+went to her bedside and looked at her.&nbsp; She was pale and worn.&nbsp;
+Lying there unconscious, all the defects which had separated him from
+her vanished.&nbsp; In sleep and death the divine element of which we
+are compounded reappears, and we cease to hate or criticise; we can
+only weep or pray.&nbsp; He looked and looked again.&nbsp; The hours
+of first love and courtship passed before him; he remembered what she
+was to him then, and he thought that perhaps the fault, after all, might
+have been on his side, and that he had perhaps not tried to understand
+her.&nbsp; He thought of her loneliness - taken away by him into a land
+of strangers - and now he was about to desert her; he thought, too,
+that she also was one of God&rsquo;s children just as much as he was;
+perhaps more so.&nbsp; The tears filled his eyes, although he was a
+hard, strong man not used to tears, and something rose in his throat
+and almost choked him.&nbsp; He was about to embrace her; but he dared
+not disturb her.&nbsp; He knelt down at the foot of the bed, and in
+an agony besought his God to have mercy on him.&nbsp; &ldquo;God have
+mercy on me!&nbsp; God have mercy on her!&rdquo;&nbsp; That was all
+he could say - nothing else, although he had been used to praying habitually.&nbsp;
+His face was upon her feet, as she lay stretched out there, and he softly
+uncovered one of them, so gently that she could not perceive it.&nbsp;
+Spotlessly white it was, and once upon a time she was so attractive
+to him because she was so exquisitely scrupulous!&nbsp; He bent his
+lips over it, kissed it - she stirred, but did not wake; a great cry
+almost broke from him, but he stifled it and rose.&nbsp; There was a
+knock at the door, and he started.&nbsp; It was Mrs. Carter.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; she said as he went out, &ldquo;you have been
+here long enough.&nbsp; Poor dear man! - there, there - of course it&rsquo;s
+hard to bear - poor dear man!&rdquo; - and the good creature put her
+hand affectionately on his shoulder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how it is,&rdquo; she continued, wiping
+her eyes with her apron, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t a-bear to see a man cry.&nbsp;
+It always upsets me.&nbsp; My husband ain&rsquo;t done it above once
+or twice in his life, and, Lord, I&rsquo;d sooner a cried myself all
+night long.&nbsp; Good-bye, my dear, good-bye, good-bye; God bless you!&nbsp;
+It will all come right.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In another minute Zachariah was out of doors.&nbsp; It was dark,
+and getting late.&nbsp; The cold air revived him but he could not for
+some time come to any determination as to what he ought to do next.&nbsp;
+He was not well acquainted with the country round Manchester, and he
+could not decide to what point of the compass it would be safest to
+bend his steps.&nbsp; At last he remembered that at any rate he must
+escape from the town boundaries, and get a night&rsquo;s lodging somewhere
+outside them.&nbsp; With the morning some light would possibly dawn
+upon him.</p>
+<p>Pauline&rsquo;s warning was well-timed, for the constables made a
+descent upon Caillaud&rsquo;s lodgings as soon as they got him into
+jail, and thence proceeded to Coleman&rsquo;s.&nbsp; They insisted on
+a search, and Mrs. Carter gave them a bit of her mind, for they went
+into every room of the house, and even into Mrs. Coleman&rsquo;s bedroom.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what it is, Mr. Nadin,&rdquo; she said,
+turning towards the notorious chief constable, &ldquo;if God A&rsquo;mighty
+had to settle who was to be hung in Manchester, it wouldn&rsquo;t be
+any of them poor Blanketeers.&nbsp; Wouldn&rsquo;t you like to strip
+the clothes off the bed?&nbsp; That would be just in your line.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hold your damned tongue!&rdquo; quoth Mr. Nadin; but, nevertheless,
+seeing his men grinning and a little ashamed of themselves, he ordered
+them back.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Zachariah pursued his way north-westward unchallenged,
+and at last came to a roadside inn, which he thought looked safe.&nbsp;
+He walked in, and found half a dozen decent-looking men sitting round
+a fire and smoking.&nbsp; One of them was a parson, and another was
+one of the parish overseers.&nbsp; It was about half-past ten, and they
+were not merry, but a trifle boozy and stupid.&nbsp; Zachariah called
+for a pint of beer and some bread and cheese, and asked if he could
+have a bed.&nbsp; The man who served him didn&rsquo;t know; but would
+go and see.&nbsp; Presently the overseer was beckoned out of the room,
+and the man came back again and informed Zachariah that there was no
+bed for him, and that he had better make haste with his supper, as the
+house would close at eleven.&nbsp; In a minute or two the door opened
+again, and a poor, emaciated weaver entered and asked the overseer for
+some help.&nbsp; His wife, he said, was down with the fever; he had
+no work; he had had no victuals all day, and he and his family were
+starving.&nbsp; He was evidently known to the company.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said the overseer, &ldquo;no work, and the fever
+and starving; that&rsquo;s what they always say.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ll bet
+a sovereign you&rsquo;ve been after them Blanketeers.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a judgment on you,&rdquo; observed the parson.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;You and your like go setting class against class; you never come
+near the church, and then you wonder God Almighty punishes you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You can come on your knees to us when it suits you, and you&rsquo;d
+burn my rick to-morrow,&rdquo; said a third.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of fever amongst &rsquo;em down my way,&rdquo;
+said another, whose voice was rather thick, &ldquo;and a damned lot
+of expense they are, too, for physic and funerals.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s
+my belief that they catch it out of spite.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Aren&rsquo;t you going to give me nothing?&rdquo; said the
+man.&nbsp; &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t a mouthful of food in the place,
+and the wife may be dead before the morning.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, what do you say, parson?&rdquo; said the overseer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I say we&rsquo;ve got quite enough to do to help those who
+deserve help,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and that it&rsquo;s flying in
+the face of Providence to interfere with its judgment.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+With that he knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and took a great gulp
+of his brandy-and-water.</p>
+<p>There was an echo of assent.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;God have mercy on me!&rdquo; said the man, as he sat down
+on the form by the table.&nbsp; Zachariah touched him gently, and pushed
+the plate and jug to him.&nbsp; He looked at Zachariah, and without
+saying a word, devoured it greedily.&nbsp; He just had time to finish,
+for the landlord, entering the room, roughly ordered them to turn out.&nbsp;
+Out they went accordingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;The Lord in heaven curse them!&rdquo; exclaimed Zachariah&rsquo;s
+companion when they were in the road.&nbsp; &ldquo;I could have ripped
+&rsquo;em up, every one of &rsquo;em.&nbsp; My wife is in bed with her
+wits a-wandering, and there a&rsquo;nt a lump of coal, nor a crumb of
+bread, nor a farthing in the house.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hush, my friend, cursing is of no use.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah! it&rsquo;s all very well to talk; you&rsquo;ve got money
+maybe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not much.&nbsp; I too have no work, no lodging, and I&rsquo;m
+driven away from home.&nbsp; Here&rsquo;s half of what&rsquo;s left.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What a sinner I am!&rdquo; said the other.&nbsp; &ldquo;You
+wouldn&rsquo;t think it, to hear me go on as I did, but I am a Methodist.&nbsp;
+The last two or three days, though, I&rsquo;ve been like a raving madman.&nbsp;
+That&rsquo;s the worst of it.&nbsp; Starvation has brought the devil
+into me.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m not a-going to take all that though, master;
+I&rsquo;ll take some of it; and if ever I prayed to the Throne of Grace
+in my life, I&rsquo;ll pray for you.&nbsp; Who are you?&nbsp; Where
+are you going?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah felt that he could safely trust him, and told him what
+had happened.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t got a bit of straw myself on which to put
+you; but you come along with me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>They walked together for about half a mile, till they came to a barn.&nbsp;
+There was a haystack close by, and they dragged some of the dry hay
+into it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;d better be away from these parts afore it&rsquo;s
+light, and, if you take my advice, Liverpool is the best place for you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was right.&nbsp; Liverpool was a large town, and, what was of
+more consequence, it was not so revolutionary as Manchester, and the
+search there for the suspected was not so strict.&nbsp; The road was
+explained, so far as Zachariah&rsquo;s friend knew it, and they parted.</p>
+<p>Zachariah slept but little, and at four o&rsquo;clock, with a bright
+moon, he started.&nbsp; He met with no particular adventure, and in
+the evening found himself once more in a wilderness of strange streets,
+with no outlook, face to face with the Red Sea.&nbsp; Happy is the man
+who, if he is to have an experience of this kind, is trained to it when
+young, and is not suddenly brought to it after a life of security.&nbsp;
+Zachariah, although he was desponding, could now say he had been in
+the same straits before, and had survived.&nbsp; That is the consolation
+of all consolations to us.&nbsp; We have actually touched and handled
+the skeleton, and after all we have not been struck dead. <a name="citation132"></a><a href="#footnote132">{132}</a></p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;O socii, neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum,<br />O passi
+graviora, dabit Deus his quoque finem.<br />Vos et Scyll&aelig;am rabiem
+penitusque sonantes<br />Accestis scopulos; vos et Cyclopia saxa<br />Experti.&nbsp;
+Revocate animos, moestumque timorem<br />Mittite; forsan et h&aelig;c
+olim meminisse juvabit.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>He wandered down to the water and saw a ship cleared for some port
+across the Atlantic.&nbsp; A longing seized him to go with her.&nbsp;
+Over the sea, - he thought there he would be at rest.&nbsp; So we all
+think, and as we watch the vessels dropping below the horizon in the
+sunset cloud, we imagine them bound with a happy crew to islands of
+the blest, the truth being that the cloud is a storm, and the destined
+port is as commonplace and full of misery as the one they have left.&nbsp;
+Zachariah, however, did not suffer himself to dream.&nbsp; He went diligently
+and systematically to work; but this time all his efforts were fruitless.&nbsp;
+He called on every printing-office he could find, and there was not
+one which wanted a hand, or saw any prospect of wanting one.&nbsp; He
+thought of trying the river-side; but he stood no chance there, as he
+had never been accustomed to carry heavy weights.&nbsp; His money was
+running short, and at last, when evening came on the third day, and
+he was faint with fatigue, his heart sank.&nbsp; He was ill, too, and
+sickness began to cloud his brain.&nbsp; As the power of internal resistance
+diminishes, the circumstance of the external world presses on us like
+the air upon an exhausted glass ball, and finally crushes us.&nbsp;
+It saddened him, too, to think, as it has saddened thousands before
+him, that the fight which he fought, and the death which, perhaps, was
+in front of him, were so mean.&nbsp; Ophelia dies; Juliet dies, and
+we fancy that their fate, although terrible, is more enviable than that
+of a pauper who drops undramatically on London stones.&nbsp; He came
+to his lodging at the close of the third day, wet, tired, hungry, and
+with a headache.&nbsp; There was nobody to suggest anything to him or
+offer him anything.&nbsp; He went to bed, and a thousand images, uncontrolled,
+rushed backwards and forwards before him.&nbsp; He became excited, so
+that he could not rest, and after walking about his room till nearly
+daylight, turned into bed again.&nbsp; When morning had fairly arrived
+he tried to rise, but he was beaten.&nbsp; He lay still till about eleven,
+and then the woman who kept the lodging-house appeared and asked him
+if he was going to stay all day where he was.&nbsp; He told her he was
+very bad; but she went away without a word, and he saw nothing more
+of her.&nbsp; Towards night he became worse and finally delirious.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV - THE SCHOOL OF ADVERSITY THE SIXTH FORM THEREOF</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>When Zachariah came to himself he was in a large, long, whitewashed
+room, with twenty beds or more in it.&nbsp; A woman in a greyish check
+dress was standing near him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where am I?&rdquo; he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Where are yer?&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;why, in the workus
+infirmary, to be sure, with me a-looking after yer.&nbsp; Where would
+yer be?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah relapsed and was still.&nbsp; The next time he opened his
+eyes the woman had left him.&nbsp; It was true he was in the workhouse,
+and a workhouse then was not what it is now.&nbsp; Who can possibly
+describe what it was?&nbsp; Who can possibly convey to anybody who has
+not known what it was by actual imprisonment in it any adequate sense
+of its gloom; of the utter, callous, brutal indifference of the so-called
+nurses; of the neglect of the poor patients by those who were paid to
+attend to them; of the absence of even common decency; of the desperate
+persistent attempts made by everybody concerned to impress upon the
+wretched mortals who were brought there that they were chargeable to
+the parish and put there for form&rsquo;s sake, prior to being shovelled
+into a hole in the adjoining churchyard?&nbsp; The infirmary nurses
+were taken from the other side of the building - sometimes for very
+strange reasons.&nbsp; The master appointed them, and was not bound
+to account to anybody for his preferences.&nbsp; One woman had given
+him much trouble.&nbsp; She was a stout, lazy brute, who had no business
+in the House, and who went in and out just as she liked.&nbsp; One day
+something displeased her, and she attacked him with such fury and suddenness
+that he would have been a dead man in a few minutes if she had not been
+pulled off.&nbsp; But he dared not report her.&nbsp; She knew too much
+about him, and she was moved a few days afterwards to look after the
+sick.&nbsp; She it was who spoke to Zachariah.&nbsp; She, however, was
+not by any means the worst.&nbsp; Worse than her were the old, degraded,
+sodden, gin-drinking hags, who had all their lives breathed pauper air
+and pauper contamination; women with not one single vestige of their
+Maker&rsquo;s hand left upon them, and incapable, even under the greatest
+provocation, of any human emotion; who would see a dying mother call
+upon Christ, or cry for her husband and children, and would swear at
+her and try to smother her into silence.&nbsp; As for the doctor, he
+was hired at the lowest possible rate, and was allowed a certain sum
+for drugs.&nbsp; It was utterly insufficient to provide anything except
+the very commonest physic; and what could he do in the midst of such
+a system, even if he had been inclined to do anything?&nbsp; He accordingly
+did next to nothing; walked through the wards, and left his patients
+pretty much to Providence.&nbsp; They were robbed even of their food.&nbsp;
+They were not much to be pitied for being robbed of the stimulants,
+for every drop, including the &ldquo;port wine,&rdquo; was obtained
+by the directors from those of their number or from their friends who
+were in the trade, and it was mostly poisonous.&nbsp; Death is always
+terrible - terrible on the battlefield; terrible in a sinking ship;
+terrible to the exile - but the present writer, who has seen Death in
+the &ldquo;House&rdquo; of years gone by, cannot imagine that he can
+ever be so distinctively the King of Terrors as he was there.&nbsp;
+The thought that thousands and thousands of human beings, some of them
+tender-hearted, have had to face him there is more horrifying than the
+thought of French soldiers freezing in their blood on the Borodino,
+or of Inquisitional tortures.&nbsp; It is one of those thoughts which
+ought not to be thought - a thought to be suppressed, for it leads to
+atheism, or even something worse than mere denial of a God.&nbsp; Thank
+Heaven that the present generation of the poor has been relieved at
+least of one argument in favour of the creed that the world is governed
+by the Devil!&nbsp; Thank Heaven that the modern hospital, with its
+sisters gently nurtured, devoted to their duty with that pious earnestness
+which is a true religion, has supplied some evidence of a Theocracy.</p>
+<p>Zachariah looked round again.&nbsp; There was an old male attendant
+near him.&nbsp; He had on a brown rough coat with brass buttons, and
+shoes which were much too big for him.&nbsp; They were supplied in sizes,
+and never fitted.&nbsp; The old men always took those that were too
+large.&nbsp; They had as their place of exercise a paved courtyard surrounded
+by high brick walls, and they all collected on the sunny side, and walked
+up and down there, making a clapping noise with their feet as the shoes
+slipped off their heels.&nbsp; This sound was characteristic of the
+whole building.&nbsp; It was to be heard everywhere.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been very bad,&rdquo; said the old man, &ldquo;but
+you&rsquo;ll get better now; it a&rsquo;nt many as get better here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was a poor-looking, half-fed creature, with a cadaverous face.&nbsp;
+He had the special, workhouse, bloodless aspect - just as if he had
+lived on nothing stronger than gruel and had never smelt fresh air.&nbsp;
+The air, by the way, of those wards was something peculiar.&nbsp; It
+had no distinctive odour - that is to say, no odour which was specially
+this or that; but it had one that bore the same relation to ordinary
+odours which well-ground London mud bears to ordinary colours.&nbsp;
+The old man&rsquo;s face, too, had nothing distinctive in it.&nbsp;
+The only thing certainly predicable of him was, that nothing could be
+predicated of him.&nbsp; He was neither selfish nor generous; neither
+a liar nor truthful; neither believed anything, nor disbelieved anything;
+was neither good nor bad; had no hope hereafter, nor any doubt.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; said Zachariah.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, that ain&rsquo;t easy to say.&nbsp; I does odd jobs
+here as the nurses don&rsquo;t do, and I gets a little extra ration.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How long have I been here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;About a fortnight.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah was too weak to say anything more, and fell asleep again.&nbsp;
+Next day he was better, and he then thought of his wife; he thought
+of Caillaud, the Major, and Pauline; but he had no power to reflect
+connectedly.&nbsp; He was in that miserable condition in which objects
+present themselves in a tumbling crowd, one following the other with
+inconceivable rapidity, the brain possessing no power to disentangle
+the chaos.&nbsp; He could not detach the condition of his wife, for
+example, and determine what ought to be done; he could not even bring
+himself to decide if it would be best to let her know where he was.&nbsp;
+No sooner did he try to turn his attention to her, even for a moment,
+than the Major came before him, and then his other friends, and then
+the workhouse and the dread of death there.&nbsp; Mercifully he went
+to sleep again, and after another long night&rsquo;s rest he was much
+stronger.&nbsp; He was able now - first sign of restored power - to
+settle that he ought before everything to communicate with Mrs. Carter,
+and he inquired of the old man if he could write.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, yes, I can write,&rdquo; said he, and something like a
+gleam of light passed over his countenance at being asked to practise
+an art almost forgotten in those walls.</p>
+<p>A letter was accordingly written to Mrs. Carter, at her sister&rsquo;s
+address, telling her briefly what had happened, but that she was not
+to be alarmed, as the writer was rapidly recovering.&nbsp; He was able
+to sign his name; but when the letter was finished, he reflected that
+he had not got a coin in his pocket with which to pay the postage.&nbsp;
+One of the institutions of the workhouse was, however, a kind of pawnshop
+kept by one of the under-masters, as they were called, and Zachariah
+got a shilling advanced on a pocket-knife.&nbsp; The letter, therefore,
+was duly despatched, and he gave his secretary a penny for his trouble.&nbsp;
+This led to a little further intimacy, and Zachariah asked him how he
+came there.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he replied.&nbsp; &ldquo;I was
+born in the country, and when I was fourteen, my father apprenticed
+me to the watchmaking.&nbsp; He was well off - my father was - and when
+I was out of my time he set me up in business in Liverpool.&nbsp; It
+was a business as had been established some time - a fairish business
+it was.&nbsp; But when I came to Liverpool I felt dull.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean by dull?&nbsp; Stupid?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, not exactly that.&nbsp; You know what dull means, don&rsquo;t
+you? - low-spirited like - got nothing to talk about.&nbsp; Well, I
+can&rsquo;t tell how it come about, but I was always dull, and have
+been so ever since.&nbsp; I got married soon after I was settled.&nbsp;
+My wife was a good sort of woman, but she wasn&rsquo;t cheerful, and
+she wasn&rsquo;t very strong.&nbsp; Somehow the business fell off.&nbsp;
+Customers as used to come didn&rsquo;t come, and I got no new ones.&nbsp;
+I did my work pretty well; but still, for all that, things went down
+and down by degrees.&nbsp; I never could make out why, except that people
+liked to be talked to, and I had nothing particular to say to any of
+them when they came in.&nbsp; The shop, too, ought to have been painted
+more often, and I ought to have had something in the window, but, as
+I say, I was always dull, and my wife wasn&rsquo;t strong.&nbsp; At
+last I was obliged to give up and go to journey-work; but when I got
+old I couldn&rsquo;t see, and was put in here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But,&rdquo; said Zachariah, &ldquo;is that all?&nbsp; Why,
+you are nearly seventy years old.&nbsp; You must have something more
+to tell me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t know as I have; that seems about all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But what became of your father?&nbsp; He was well off.&nbsp;
+What became of his money when he died?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d had my share.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Had you no brothers nor sisters to help you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I had some.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did they let you come here?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, you see, as I&rsquo;ve told you before, I was dull, and
+my wife wasn&rsquo;t strong.&nbsp; They never came much to see me.&nbsp;
+It was my fault; I never had nothing to say to them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Had you no children?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, I had a son and daughter.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are they alive now?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes - both of them; at least I haven&rsquo;t heard as they
+are dead.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And able to keep themselves?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They used to be.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And do you mean that your son and daughter let you go to the
+workhouse?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The old man was a little disturbed, and for a moment some slight
+sign of nervous excitement revealed itself in his lustreless eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t see anything of &rsquo;em for years.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Did you quarrel?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, we didn&rsquo;t quarrel; but they left off visiting us.&nbsp;
+They both of them married, and went out a good bit, and were gayer than
+we were.&nbsp; We used to ask them, and then they&rsquo;d look in sometimes:
+but never except when they were asked, and always seemed to wish to
+get away.&nbsp; We never had nothing to show anybody, nor nothing to
+give anybody; for we didn&rsquo;t drink and I never smoked.&nbsp; They
+went away too, both of them, from Liverpool, somewhere towards London.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But when you broke down didn&rsquo;t you inform them?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&nbsp; I hadn&rsquo;t heard anything of them for so long.&nbsp;
+I thought I might as well get into the House.&nbsp; It will do very
+well.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t you know anybody belonging to your church or
+chapel?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, we went to church; but when the business dropped we
+left off going, for nothing much seemed to come of it, and nobody ever
+spoke to us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Wouldn&rsquo;t you like to get out of this place?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No - I don&rsquo;t know as I should now; I shouldn&rsquo;t
+know what to do, and it won&rsquo;t last long.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How old are you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sixty-five.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It puzzled Zachariah that the man&rsquo;s story of his life was so
+short - all told in five minutes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But did you never have any adventures?&nbsp; Did you never
+hear about anything, or see anybody worth remembering?&nbsp; Tell me
+all about yourself.&nbsp; We&rsquo;ve got nothing to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t recollect anything particular after I came to
+Liverpool.&nbsp; Things seemed to go on pretty much in the same way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But you got married, and your wife died?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes - I got married, and she died.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What was your wife&rsquo;s name?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Her name was Jenkins; she was the daughter of the saddler
+that lived next door.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Couldn&rsquo;t her friends have helped you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;After she died they had nothing more to do with me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And you really cannot tell me any more?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No - how can I?&nbsp; What more is there to tell?&nbsp; It&rsquo;s
+all alike.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The old pauper was called away, and went shuffling along to the door,
+leaving Zachariah to his meditations.</p>
+<p>Another day passed, and he was lying half asleep when a visitor was
+announced, and close upon the announcement stood before him - who should
+it be? - no other than Mrs. Carter, out of breath, radiant, healthy,
+impetuous.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;God bless the poor dear man!&rdquo; she burst out; &ldquo;to
+think of finding you here, and not to have told us before.&nbsp; But
+I suppose you couldn&rsquo;t.&nbsp; Directly as I got your letter off
+I came, and here I am, you see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Her presence was like the south-west wind and sunlight after long
+north-easterly gloom and frost.&nbsp; Astonishing is that happy power
+which some people possess which enables them at once to dispel depression
+and even disease.&nbsp; A woman like Mrs. Carter comes into a house
+where there is misery and darkness; where the sufferer is possessed
+by demons; unnameable apprehensions, which thicken his blood and make
+him cry for death, and they retreat precipitately, as their brethren
+were fabled to retreat at the sign of the cross.&nbsp; No man who is
+so blessed as to have a friend with that magnetic force in him need
+disbelieve in much of what is recorded as miraculous.&nbsp; Zachariah
+felt as if a draught of good wine had been poured down his throat.&nbsp;
+But he instantly asked:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How is my wife?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;She is all right; but you mustn&rsquo;t bother about her.&nbsp;
+You must come out at once.&nbsp; You mustn&rsquo;t go back to Manchester
+just yet - not as they&rsquo;d care much about you now; Nadin&rsquo;s
+got plenty of work to do, and wouldn&rsquo;t concern himself about you
+- but you aren&rsquo;t well enough and are better away.&nbsp; Now, look
+here - I&rsquo;ll tell you what I&rsquo;ve been and done.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ve
+got a cousin living here in Liverpool, as good a soul as ever lived.&nbsp;
+I goes to her and tells her you must stay there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But how can I?&nbsp; Just think of the trouble and expense.&nbsp;
+I don&rsquo;t know her.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Lord a mercy, there you are again - trouble and expense!&nbsp;
+What trouble will you be?&nbsp; And as for expense, one would think
+you&rsquo;d been living like a Lord Mayor to hear you talk.&nbsp; What
+are we made for if not to help one another?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t walk; and shouldn&rsquo;t I be obliged to get
+the doctor&rsquo;s permission?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Walk!&nbsp; Of course you can&rsquo;t.&nbsp; And what did
+my husband say to me before I started?&nbsp; Says he, &lsquo;You&rsquo;ll
+have to get a conveyance to take him.&rsquo;&nbsp; &lsquo;Leave me alone
+for that,&rsquo; says I; &lsquo;although right you are.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+And I says to my cousin&rsquo;s husband, who drives a hackney coach,
+&lsquo;Just you drop down and carry him home.&nbsp; It won&rsquo;t be
+ten minutes out of your time.&rsquo;&nbsp; So he&rsquo;ll be here in
+about a quarter of an hour.&nbsp; As for the doctor, I understand as
+much about you as he does, and, doctor or no doctor, you won&rsquo;t
+sleep in this bed to-night.&nbsp; I&rsquo;ll go and tell the head nurse
+or master, or somebody or the other, that you are off.&nbsp; You just
+put on your clothes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>In a short time she returned, found Zachariah dressed, wrapped him
+round in shawls and rugs, helped him downstairs, put him into the coach,
+and brought him to her cousin&rsquo;s.&nbsp; It was a little house,
+in a long uniform street; but a good deal of pains had been taken with
+it to make it something special.&nbsp; There were two bedroom windows
+in front, on the upper storey, and each one had flowers outside.&nbsp;
+The flower-pots were prevented from falling off the ledge by a lattice-work
+wrought in the centre into a little gate - an actual little gate.&nbsp;
+What purpose it was intended to answer is a mystery; but being there
+the owner of the flower-pots unfastened it every morning when the sill
+was dusted, and removed them through it, although lifting them would
+have been a much simpler operation.&nbsp; There were flowers in the
+sitting-room downstairs too; but they were inside, as the window was
+flush with the pavement.&nbsp; This sitting-room was never used except
+on Sundays.&nbsp; It was about nine feet square, and it had in it a
+cupboard on either side of the fireplace, a black horse-hair sofa alongside
+the wall on the right-hand side of the door, red curtains, a black horse-hair
+arm-chair, three other chairs to match, a little round table, two large
+shells, a framed sampler on the wall representing first the letters
+of the alphabet, then the figures 1, 2, 3, &amp;c., and, finally, a
+very blue Jesus talking to a very red woman of Samaria on a very yellow
+well - underneath, the inscription and date, &ldquo;Margaret Curtin,
+10th March 1785.&rdquo;&nbsp; The only other decorations - for pictures
+were dear in those days - were two silhouettes, male, and female, one
+at each corner of the mantelpiece, and two earthenware dogs which sat
+eternally looking at one another on the top of one of the cupboards.&nbsp;
+On the cupboard farthest away from the window was a large Bible with
+pictures in it and notes, and, strange to say, a copy of Ferguson&rsquo;s
+Astronomy and a handsome quarto edition in three volumes of Cook&rsquo;s
+First Voyage.&nbsp; Everything was as neat and clean as it could possibly
+be; but Mr. and Mrs. Hocking had no children, and had saved a little
+money.</p>
+<p>Into this apartment Zachariah was brought.&nbsp; There was a fire
+burning, though it was not cold, and on the table, covered with a perfectly
+white cloth, stood a basin of broth, with some toast, a little brandy
+in a wine-glass, a jug of water, and a tumbler.&nbsp; The books, including
+the Bible, had apparently not been read much, and were probably an heirloom.&nbsp;
+As Zachariah began to recover strength he read the Ferguson.&nbsp; It
+was the first time he had ever thought seriously of Astronomy, and it
+opened a new world to him.&nbsp; His religion had centred all his thoughts
+upon the earth as the theatre of the history of the universe, and although
+he knew theoretically that it was but a subordinate planet, he had not
+realised that it was so.&nbsp; For him, practically, this little globe
+had been the principal object of the Creator&rsquo;s attention.&nbsp;
+Ferguson told him also, to his amazement, that the earth moved in a
+resisting medium, and that one day it would surely fall into the sun.&nbsp;
+That day would be the end of the world, and of everything in it.&nbsp;
+He learned something about the magnitude of the planets and the distances
+of the fixed stars, and noted that his author, pious as he is, cannot
+admit that planets or stars were created for the sake of man.&nbsp;
+He dwelt upon these facts, more especially upon the first till the ground
+seemed to disappear under his feet, and he fell into that strange condition
+in which people in earthquake countries are said to be when their houses
+begin to tremble.&nbsp; We may laugh, and call him a fool to be disturbed
+by a forecast of what is not going to happen for millions of years;
+but he was not a fool.&nbsp; He was one of those unhappy creatures whom
+an idea has power to shake, and almost to overmaster.&nbsp; Ferguson
+was a Christian, and the thought of the destruction of our present dwelling-place,
+with every particle of life on it, did not trouble him.&nbsp; He had
+his refuge in Revelation.&nbsp; Zachariah too was a Christian, but the
+muscles of his Christianity were - now at any rate, whatever they may
+once have been - not firm enough to strangle this new terror.&nbsp;
+His supernatural heaven had receded into shadow; he was giddy, and did
+not know where he was.&nbsp; He did not feel to their full extent the
+tremendous consequences of this new doctrine, and the shock which it
+has given to so much philosophy and so many theories, but he felt quite
+enough, and wished he had never opened the volume.&nbsp; There are many
+truths, no doubt, which we are not robust enough to bear.&nbsp; In the
+main it is correct that the only way to conquer is boldly to face every
+fact, however horrible it may seem to be, and think, and think, till
+we pass it and come to a higher fact; but often we are too weak, and
+perish in the attempt.&nbsp; As we lie prostrate, we curse the day on
+which our eyes were opened, and we cry in despair that it would have
+been better for us to have been born oxen or swine than men.&nbsp; It
+is an experience, I suppose, not new that in certain diseased conditions
+some single fear may fasten on the wretched victim so that he is almost
+beside himself.&nbsp; He is unaware that this fear in itself is of no
+importance, for it is nothing but an index of ill-health, which might
+find expression in a hundred other ways.&nbsp; He is unconscious of
+the ill-health except through his fancy, and regards it as an intellectual
+result.&nbsp; It is an affliction worse ten thousand times than any
+direct physical pain which ends in pain.&nbsp; Zachariah could not but
+admit that he was still physically weak; he had every reason, therefore,
+for supposing that his mental agony was connected with his sickness,
+but he could not bring himself to believe that it was so, and he wrestled
+with his nightmares and argued with them as though they were mere logical
+inferences.&nbsp; However, he began to get better, and forthwith other
+matters occupied his mind.&nbsp; His difficulty was not fairly slain,
+pierced through the midst by some heaven-directed arrow, but it was
+evaded and forgotten.&nbsp; Health, sweet blood, unimpeded action of
+the heart, are the divine narcotics which put to sleep these enemies
+to our peace and enable us to pass happily through life.&nbsp; Without
+these blessings a man need not stir three steps without finding a foe
+able to give him his death-stroke.</p>
+<p>Zachariah longed to see his wife again; but he could not bring her
+to Liverpool until he had some work to do.&nbsp; At last the day came
+when he was able to say that he was once more earning his living, and
+one evening when he reached home she was there too.&nbsp; Mrs. Carter
+had herself brought her to Liverpool, but had gone back again to Manchester
+at once, as she could not stay the night.&nbsp; When he first set eyes
+on his wife he was astonished at the change in her.&nbsp; She was whiter,
+if possible, than ever, thin in the face, dark-ringed about the eyes,
+and very weak.&nbsp; But otherwise she was what she had always been.&nbsp;
+The hair was just as smooth, everything about her just as spotlessly
+clean and unruffled, and she sat as she always did, rather upright and
+straight, as if she preferred the discomfort of a somewhat rigid position
+to the greater discomfort of disarranging her gown.</p>
+<p>Zachariah had much to say.&nbsp; During the whole of the four hours
+before bedtime he did not once feel that drying-up of conversation which
+used to be so painful to him.&nbsp; It is true she herself said little
+or nothing, but that was of no moment.&nbsp; She was strengthless, and
+he did not expect her to talk.&nbsp; So long as he could speak he was
+happy.&nbsp; The next morning came, and with it came Hope, as it usually
+came to him in the morning, and he kissed her with passionate fervour
+as he went out, rejoicing to think that, although she was so feeble,
+she was recovering; that he could once more look forward as in earlier
+days, to the evening, and forgetting every cloud which had ever come
+between them.&nbsp; Alas, when the night of that very day came he found
+his little store exhausted, and he and the companion of his life sat
+together for a quarter of an hour or more without speaking a word.&nbsp;
+He proposed reading a book, and took up the Ferguson, thinking he could
+extract from it something which might interest her; but she was so irresponsive,
+and evidently cared so little for it, that he ceased.&nbsp; It was but
+eight o&rsquo;clock, and how to fill up the time he did not know.&nbsp;
+At last he said he would just take a turn outside and look at the weather.&nbsp;
+He went out and stood under the stars of which he had been reading.&nbsp;
+The meeting, after such a separation, was scarcely twenty-four hours
+old, and yet he felt once more the old weariness and the old inability
+to profit by her society or care for it.&nbsp; He wished, or half wished,
+that there might have existed such differences between them that they
+could have totally disregarded or even hated one another.&nbsp; The
+futility, however, of any raving was soon perfectly clear to him.&nbsp;
+He might as well have strained at a chain which held him fast by the
+leg, and he therefore strove to quiet himself.&nbsp; He came back, after
+being absent longer than he intended and found she was upstairs.&nbsp;
+He sat down and meditated again, but came to no conclusion, for no conclusion
+was possible.&nbsp; The next evening, after they had sat dumb for some
+moments, he said, &ldquo;My dear; you don&rsquo;t seem well.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am not well, as you know.&nbsp; You yourself don&rsquo;t
+seem well.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He felt suddenly as if he would have liked to throw himself on his
+knees before her, and to have it all out with her; to say to her all
+he had said to himself; to expose all his misery to her; to try to find
+out whether she still loved him; to break or thaw the shell of ice which
+seemed to have frozen round her.&nbsp; But he could not do it.&nbsp;
+He was on the point of doing it, when he looked at her face, and there
+was something in it which stopped him.&nbsp; No such confidence was
+possible, and he went back into himself again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Shall I read to you?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, if you like.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What shall I read?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care; anything you please.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Shall it be Cook&rsquo;s Voyages?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have just said I really do not care.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He took down the Cook&rsquo;s Voyages; but after about ten minutes
+he could not go on and he put it back in its place.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Caillaud&rsquo;s trial is to take place next week,&rdquo;
+he observed after a long pause.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Horrible man!&rdquo; she exclaimed, with a sudden increase
+of energy.&nbsp; &ldquo;I understand that it was in defending him Major
+Maitland lost his life.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear, you are quite wrong.&nbsp; He was defending Major
+Maitland, and shot the soldier who killed him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Quite wrong, am I?&nbsp; Of course I am quite wrong!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was at head-quarters, you remember.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, you were; but you were not near Major Maitland.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah raised his eyes; he thought he detected, he was sure he
+detected, in the tone of this sentence a distinct sneer.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I was not with Major Maitland; my duties called me elsewhere;
+but I am more likely to know what happened than any gossiping outsider.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in your foreign infidels.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;<i>My</i> foreign infidels!&nbsp; You have no right to call
+them my infidels, if you mean that, I am one.&nbsp; But let me tell
+you again you are mistaken.&nbsp; Besides, supposing you are right,
+I don&rsquo;t see why he should be a horrible man.&nbsp; He will probably
+be executed for what he did.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It was he and that daughter of his who dragged you and the
+Major into all this trouble.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;On the contrary, Caillaud, as well as myself and the Major,
+did all we could to prevent the march.&nbsp; You must admit I understand
+what I am talking about.&nbsp; I was at every meeting.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;As usual, nothing I say is right.&nbsp; It was to be expected
+that you would take the part of the Caillauds.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah did not reply.&nbsp; It was supper-time; the chapter from
+the Bible was duly read, the prayer duly prayed, and husband and wife
+afterwards once more, each in turn, silently at the bedside, with more
+or less of sincerity or pathos, sought Him who was the Maker of both.&nbsp;
+It struck Zachariah during his devotions - a rather unwelcome interruption
+- that his wife as well as himself was in close communication with the
+Almighty.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV - END OF THE BEGINNING</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>The trial took place at Lancaster.&nbsp; Zachariah was sorely tempted
+to go; but, in the first place, he had no money, and, in the second
+place, he feared arrest.&nbsp; Not that he would have cared two pins
+if he had been put into jail; but he could not abandon his wife.&nbsp;
+He was perfectly certain what the result would be, but nevertheless,
+on the day when the news was due, he could not rest.&nbsp; There was
+a mail coach which ran from Lancaster to Liverpool, starting from Lancaster
+in the afternoon and reaching Liverpool between eleven and twelve at
+night.&nbsp; He went out about that time and loitered about the coach-office
+as if he were waiting for a friend.&nbsp; Presently he heard the wheels
+and the rapid trot of the horses.&nbsp; His heart failed him, and he
+could almost have fainted.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the news?&rdquo; said the clerk to the coachman.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;All the whole d---d lot convicted, and one of &rsquo;em going
+to be hung.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;One of them hung!&nbsp; Which one is that?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, him as killed the soldier, of course - the Frenchman.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A d---d good job too,&rdquo; replied the clerk.&nbsp; &ldquo;I
+should like to serve every --- Frenchman in the country the same way.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah could not listen any longer, but went home, and all night
+long a continuous series of fearful images passed before his eyes -
+condemned cells, ropes, gallows and the actual fall of the victim, down
+to the contortion of his muscles.&nbsp; He made up his mind on the following
+day that he would see Caillaud before he died, and he told his wife
+he was going.&nbsp; She was silent for a moment, and then she said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You will do as you like, I suppose: but I cannot see what
+is the use of it.&nbsp; You can do no good; you will lose your place
+here; it will cost you something; and when you get there you may have
+to stop there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah could not restrain himself.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;you hear that one of my
+best friends is about to be hung, and you sit there like a statue -
+not a single word of sympathy or horror - you care no more than a stone.&nbsp;
+<i>Use</i> of going!&nbsp; I tell you I will go if I starve, or have
+to rot in jail all my lifetime.&nbsp; Furthermore, I will go this instant.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He went out of the room in a rage, rammed a few things into a bag,
+and was out of the house in ten minutes.&nbsp; He was excusably unjust
+to his wife - excusably, because he could not help thinking that she
+was hard, and even cruel.&nbsp; Yet really she was not so, or if she
+was, she was not necessarily so, for injustice, not only to others,
+but to ourselves, is always begotten by a false relationship.&nbsp;
+There were multitudes of men in the world, worse than Zachariah, with
+whom she would have been, not only happier, but better.&nbsp; He, poor
+man, with all his virtues, stimulated and developed all that was disagreeable
+in her.</p>
+<p>He was in no mood to rest, and walked on all that night.&nbsp; Amidst
+all his troubles he could not help being struck with the solemn, silent
+procession overhead.&nbsp; It was perfectly clear - so clear that the
+heavens were not a surface, but a depth, and the stars of a lesser magnitude
+were so numerous and brilliant that they obscured the forms of the greater
+constellations.&nbsp; Presently the first hint of day appeared in the
+east.&nbsp; We must remember that this was the year 1817, before, so
+it is commonly supposed, men knew what it was properly to admire a cloud
+or a rock.&nbsp; Zachariah was not, therefore, on a level with the most
+ordinary subscriber to a modern circulating library.&nbsp; Nevertheless
+he could not help noticing - we will say he did no more - the wonderful,
+the sacredly beautiful, drama which noiselessly displayed itself before
+him.&nbsp; Over in the east the intense deep blue of the sky softened
+a little.&nbsp; Then the trees in that quarter began to contrast themselves
+against the background and reveal their distinguishing shapes.&nbsp;
+Swiftly, and yet with such even velocity that in no one minute did there
+seem to be any progress compared with the minute preceding, the darkness
+was thinned, and resolved itself overhead into pure sapphire, shaded
+into yellow below and in front of him, while in the west it was still
+almost black.&nbsp; The grassy floor of the meadows now showed its colour,
+grey green, with the dew lying on it, and in the glimmer under the hedge
+might be discerned a hare or two stirring.&nbsp; Star by star disappeared,
+until none were left, save Venus, shining like a lamp till the very
+moment almost when the sun&rsquo;s disc touched the horizon.&nbsp; Half
+a dozen larks mounted and poured forth that ecstasy which no bird but
+the lark can translate.&nbsp; More amazing than the loveliness of scene,
+sound, and scent around him was the sense of irrestisible movement.&nbsp;
+He stopped to watch it, for it grew so rapid that he could almost detect
+definite pulsations.&nbsp; Throb followed throb every second with increasing
+force, and in a moment more a burning speck of gold was visible, and
+behold it was day!&nbsp; He slowly turned his eyes away and walked onwards.</p>
+<p>Lancaster was reached on the second evening after he left Liverpool.&nbsp;
+He could not travel fast nor long together, for he was not yet completely
+strong.&nbsp; He secured a bed in a low part of the town, at a public-house,
+and on the morning of the third day presented himself at the prison
+door.&nbsp; After some formalities he was admitted, and taken by a warder
+along a corridor with whitewashed walls to the condemned cell where
+Caillaud lay.&nbsp; The warder looked through a grating, and said to
+Zachariah that a visitor was already there.&nbsp; Two were not allowed
+at a time, but he would tell the prisoner that somebody was waiting
+for him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s see, what&rsquo;s your name?&rdquo; said the warder.&nbsp;
+Then it suddenly struck him that he had been fool enough, in the excitement
+of entering the prison, to sign his real name in the book.&nbsp; There
+was no help for it now, and he repeated that it was Coleman.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah yes, Coleman,&rdquo; echoed the man, in a manner which
+was significant.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who is the other visitor?&rdquo; said Zachariah.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is his daughter.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>His first thought was to ask to be let in, but his next was, that
+it would be profanity to disturb the intercourse of father and child,
+and he was silent.&nbsp; However, he had been announced, and Caillaud
+appeared at the grating begging permission for his friend to enter.&nbsp;
+It was at first refused; but presently something seemed to strike the
+jailer, for he relented with a smile.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t want to come again?&rdquo; he observed interrogatively.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; that is to say, I think not.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; that is to say, I think not,&rdquo; he repeated slowly,
+word for word, adding, &ldquo;I shall have to stay with you while you
+are together.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah entered, the warder locking the door behind him, and seating
+himself on the edge of the bedstead, where he remained during the whole
+of the interview, jingling his keys and perfectly unmoved.</p>
+<p>The three friends spoke not a word for nearly five minutes.&nbsp;
+Zachariah was never suddenly equal to any occasion which made any great
+demands upon him.&nbsp; It often made him miserable that it was so.&nbsp;
+Here he was, in the presence of one whom he had so much loved, and who
+was about to leave him for ever, and he had nothing to say.&nbsp; That
+could have been endured could he but have <i>felt</i> and showed his
+feeling, could he but have cast himself upon his neck and wept over
+him, but he was numbed and apparently immovable.&nbsp; It was Caillaud
+who first broke the silence.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It appears I shall have to console you rather than you me;
+believe me, I care no more about dying, as mere dying, than I do about
+walking across this room.&nbsp; There are two things which disturb me
+- the apprehension of some pain, and bidding good-bye to Pauline and
+you, and two or three more.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was, after all, but just a touch needed to break up Zachariah
+and melt him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are happier than I,&rdquo; he cried.&nbsp; &ldquo;Your
+work is at an end.&nbsp; No more care for things done or undone; you
+are discharged, and nobly discharged, with honour.&nbsp; But as for
+me!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;With honour!&rdquo; and Caillaud smiled.&nbsp; &ldquo;To be
+hung like a forger of bank-notes - not even to be shot - and then to
+be forgotten.&nbsp; Forgotten utterly!&nbsp; This does not happen to
+be one of those revolutions which men remember.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No! men will not remember,&rdquo; said Pauline, with an elevation
+of voice and manner almost oratorical.&nbsp; &ldquo;Men will not remember,
+but there is a memory in the world which forgets nothing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; said Caillaud, &ldquo;I have always loved
+adventure, and at times I look forward to death with curiosity and interest,
+just as if I were going to a foreign country.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Tell me,&rdquo; said Zachariah, &ldquo;if there is anything
+I can do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing.&nbsp; I would ask you to see that Pauline comes to
+no harm, but she can take care of herself.&nbsp; I have nothing to give
+you in parting.&nbsp; They have taken everything from me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What a brute I am!&nbsp; I shall never see you again, and
+I cannot speak,&rdquo; sobbed Zachariah.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Speak!&nbsp; What need is there of speaking?&nbsp; What is
+there which can be said at such a time?&nbsp; To tell you the truth,
+Coleman, I hardly cared about having you here.&nbsp; I did not want
+to imperil the calm which is now happily upon me; we all of us have
+something unaccountable and uncontrollable in us, and I do not know
+how soon it may wake in me.&nbsp; But I did wish to see you, in order
+that your mind might be at peace about me.&nbsp; Come, good-bye!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Caillaud put his hand on Zachariah&rsquo;s shoulder.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;This will not do,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp; &ldquo;For my sake
+forbear.&nbsp; I can face what I have to go through next Monday if am
+not shaken.&nbsp; Come, Pauline, you too, my child, must leave me for
+a bit.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah looked at Pauline, who rose and threw her shawl over her
+shoulders.&nbsp; Her lips were tightly shut, but she was herself.&nbsp;
+The warder opened the door.&nbsp; Zachariah took his friend&rsquo;s
+hand, held it for a moment, and then threw his arms round his neck.&nbsp;
+There is a pathos in parting which the mere loss through absence does
+not explain.&nbsp; We all of us feel it, even if there is to be a meeting
+again in a few months, and we are overcome by incomprehensible emotion
+when we turn back down the pier, unable any longer to discern the waving
+of the handkerchief, or when the railway train turns the curve in the
+cutting and leaves us standing on the platform.&nbsp; Infinitely pathetic,
+therefore, is the moment when we separate for ever.</p>
+<p>Caillaud was unsettled for an instant, and then, slowly untwining
+the embrace, he made a sign to Pauline, who took Zachariah&rsquo;s hand
+and led him outside; the heavy well-oiled bolt of the lock shooting
+back under the key with a smooth strong thud between them.&nbsp; She
+walked down the corridor alone, not noticing that he had not followed
+her, and had just passed out of sight when an officer stepped up to
+him and said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your name is Coleman?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Sorry to hear it.&nbsp; My name is Nadin.&nbsp; You know me,
+I think.&nbsp; You must consider yourself my prisoner.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah was in prison for two years.&nbsp; He had not been there
+three months when his wife died.</p>
+<p>* * * *</p>
+<p>Let us now look forward to 1821; let us walk down one of the new
+streets just beginning to stretch northwards from Pentonville; let us
+stop opposite a little house, with a little palisade in front, enclosing
+a little garden five and twenty feet long and fifteen feet broad; let
+us peep through the chink between the blind and the window.&nbsp; We
+see Zachariah and Pauline.&nbsp; Another year passes; we peep through
+the same chink again.&nbsp; A cradle is there, in which lies Marie Pauline
+Coleman; but where is the mother?&nbsp; She is not there, and the father
+alone sits watching the child.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI - COWFOLD</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Cowfold, half village, half town, lies about three miles to the west
+of the great North Road from London to York.&nbsp; As you go from London,
+about fifty miles from the Post-Office in St. Martin&rsquo;s le Grand
+- the fiftieth milestone is just beyond the turning - you will see a
+hand-post with three arms on it; on one is written in large letters,
+&ldquo;To LONDON;&rdquo; on the second, in equally large letters, &ldquo;To
+YORK;&rdquo; and on the third, in small italic letters, &ldquo;<i>To
+Cowfold</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp; Two or three years before the events narrated
+in the following chapters took place - that is to say, about twenty
+years after the death of Zachariah&rsquo;s second wife - a hundred coaches
+a day rolled past that hand-post, and about two miles beyond it was
+a huge inn, with stables like cavalry barracks, where horses were changed.&nbsp;
+No coach went through Cowfold.&nbsp; When the inhabitants wished to
+go northwards or southwards they walked or drove to the junction, and
+waited on the little grassy triangle till a coach came by which had
+room for them.&nbsp; When they returned they were deposited at the same
+spot, and the passengers who were going through from London to York
+or Scotland, or who were coming up to London, always seemed to despise
+people who were taken up or who were left by the roadside there.</p>
+<p>There was, perhaps, some reason for this contempt.&nbsp; The North
+Road was at that time one of the finest roads in the world, broad, hard-metalled,
+and sound in the wettest weather.&nbsp; That which led to Cowfold was
+under the control of the parish, and in winter-time was very bad indeed.&nbsp;
+When you looked down it it seemed as if it led nowhere, and indeed the
+inhabitants of the town were completely shut off from any close communication
+with the outer world.&nbsp; How strange it was to emerge from the end
+of the lane and to see those wonderful words, &ldquo;To LONDON,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;To YORK!&rdquo;&nbsp; What an opening into infinity!&nbsp; Boys
+of a slightly imaginative turn of mind - for there were boys with imagination
+even in Cowfold - would, on a holiday trudge the three miles eastward
+merely to get to the post and enjoy the romance of those mysterious
+fingers.&nbsp; No wonder; for the excitement begotten by the long stretch
+of the road - London at one end, York at the other - by the sight of
+the <i>Star</i>, <i>Rover</i>, <i>Eclipse</i>, or <i>Times</i> racing
+along at twelve miles an hour, and by the inscriptions on them, was
+worth a whole afternoon&rsquo;s cricket or wandering in the fields.&nbsp;
+Cowfold itself supplied no such stimulus.&nbsp; The only thing like
+it was the mail-cart, which every evening took the letters from the
+post-office, disappeared into the dark, nobody could tell whither, and
+brought letters in the morning, nobody could tell whence, before the
+inhabitants were out of bed.&nbsp; There was a vague belief that it
+went about fifteen miles and &ldquo;caught&rdquo; something somewhere;
+but nobody knew for certain, except the postmistress and the mail-cart
+driver, who were always remarkably reticent on the point.&nbsp; The
+driver was dressed in red, carried a long horn slung at the side of
+the cart, and was popularly believed also to have pistols with him.&nbsp;
+He never accosted anybody; sat on a solitary perch just big enough for
+him; swayed always backwards and forwards a little in a melancholy fashion
+as he rode; was never seen during the day-time, and was not, in any
+proper sense, a Cowfold person.</p>
+<p>Cowfold had four streets, or, more correctly, only two, which crossed
+one another at right angles in the middle of the town, and formed there
+a kind of square or open place, in which, on Saturdays, a market was
+held.</p>
+<p>The &ldquo;Angel&rdquo; was in this square, and the shops grouped
+themselves round it.&nbsp; In the centre was a large pump with a great
+leaden spout that had a hole bored in it at the side.&nbsp; By stopping
+up the mouth of the spout with the hand it was possible through this
+hole to get a good drink, if a friend was willing to work the handle;
+and as the square was a public playground, the pump did good service,
+especially amongst the boys, all of whom preferred it greatly to a commonplace
+mug.&nbsp; On Sundays it was invariably chained up; for although it
+was no breach of the Sabbath to use the pump in the backyard, the line
+was drawn there, and it would have been voted by nine-tenths of Cowfold
+as decidedly immoral to get water from the one outside.&nbsp; The shops
+were a draper&rsquo;s, a grocer&rsquo;s, an ironmonger&rsquo;s, a butcher&rsquo;s
+and a baker&rsquo;s.&nbsp; All these were regular shops, with shop-windows,
+and were within sight of one another.</p>
+<p>There were also other houses where things were sold; but these were
+mere dwelling-houses, and were at the poorer and more remote ends of
+Cowfold.&nbsp; None of the regular shops aforesaid were strictly what
+they professed to be.&nbsp; Each of them diverged towards &ldquo;the
+general.&rdquo;&nbsp; The draper sold boots and shoes; the grocer sold
+drugs, stationery, horse and cow medicines, and sheep ointment; and
+the ironmonger dealt in crockery.&nbsp; Even the butcher was more than
+a butcher, for he was never to be seen at his chopping block, and his
+wife did all the retail work.&nbsp; He himself was in the &ldquo;jobbing&rdquo;
+line, and was always jogging about in a cart, in the hind part of which,
+covered with a net, was a calf or a couple of pigs.&nbsp; Three out
+of the four streets ran out in cottages; but one was more aristocratic.&nbsp;
+This was Church Street, which contained the church and the parsonage.&nbsp;
+It also had in it four red brick houses, each surrounded with large
+gardens.&nbsp; In one lived a brewer who had a brewery in Cowfold, and
+owned a dozen beer-shops in the neighbourhood; another was a seminary
+for young ladies; in the third lived the doctor; and in the fourth old
+Mr. and Mrs. Muston, who had no children, had been there for fifty years;
+and this, so far as Cowfold was aware, was all their history.&nbsp;
+Mr. and Mrs. Muston and the seminary were the main strength of the church.&nbsp;
+To be sure the doctor and the landlord of the &ldquo;Angel&rdquo; professed
+devotion to the Establishment, but they were never inside the church,
+except just now and then, and were charitably excused because of their
+peculiar calling.&nbsp; The rest of Cowfold was Dissenting or &ldquo;went
+nowhere.&rdquo;&nbsp; There were three chapels; one the chapel, orthodox,
+Independent, holding about seven hundred persons, and more particularly
+to be described presently; the second Wesleyan, new, stuccoed, with
+grained doors and cast-iron railing; the third, strict Baptist, ultra-Calvinistic,
+Antinomian according to the other sects, dark, down an alley, mean,
+surrounded by a small long-grassed graveyard, and named ZOAR in large
+letters over the long window in front.&nbsp; The &ldquo;went nowhere&rdquo;
+class was apparently not very considerable.&nbsp; On Sunday morning
+at twelve o&rsquo;clock Cowfold looked as if it had been swept clean.&nbsp;
+It was only by comparison between the total number of church-goers and
+chapel-goers and the total population that it could be believed that
+there was anybody absent from the means of grace; but if a view could
+have been taken of the back premises an explanation would have been
+discovered.&nbsp; Men and women &ldquo;did up their gardens,&rdquo;
+or found, for a variety of reasons, that they were forced to stay at
+home.&nbsp; In the evening they grew bolder, and strolled through the
+meadows.&nbsp; It is, however, only fair to respectable Cowfold to say
+that it knew nothing of these creatures, except by employing them on
+week-days.</p>
+<p>With regard to the Wesleyan Chapel, nothing much need be said.&nbsp;
+Its creed was imported, and it had no roots in the town.&nbsp; The Church
+disliked it because it was Dissenting, and the Dissenters disliked it
+because it was half-Church, and, above all, Tory.&nbsp; It was supported
+mainly by the brewer, who was drawn thither for many reasons, one of
+which was political.&nbsp; Another was, that he was not in trade, and
+although he objected to be confounded with his neighbours who stood
+behind counters, the Church did not altogether suit him, because there
+Mr. and Mrs. Muston and the seminary stood in his way.&nbsp; Lastly,
+as he owned beer-shops, supplied liquor which was a proverb throughout
+the county, and did a somewhat doubtful business according to the more
+pious of the Cowfold Christians, he preferred to be accredited as a
+religious person by Methodism than by any other sect, the stamp of Methodism
+standing out in somewhat higher relief.</p>
+<p>As for Zoar, it was a place apart.&nbsp; Its minister was a big,
+large-jawed, heavy-eyed man, who lived in a little cottage hard by.&nbsp;
+His wife was a very plain-looking person, who wore even on Sundays a
+cotton gown without any ornament, and who took her husband&rsquo;s arm
+as they walked down the lane to the chapel.&nbsp; The Independent minister,
+the Wesleyan minister, and, of course, the rector had nothing to do
+with the minister of Zoar.&nbsp; This was not because of any heresy
+or difference of doctrine, but because he was a poor man and poor persons
+sat under him.&nbsp; Nevertheless he was not in any way a characteristic
+Calvinist.&nbsp; The Calvinistic creed was stuck in him as in a lump
+of fat, and had no organising influence upon him whatever.&nbsp; He
+had no weight in Cowfold, took part in none of its affairs, and his
+ministrations were confined to about fifty sullen, half stupid, wholly
+ignorant people who found in the Zoar services something sleepier and
+requiring less mental exertion than they needed elsewhere; although
+it must be said that the demands made upon the intellect in none of
+the places of worship were very extensive.&nbsp; There was a small endowment
+attached to Zoar, and on this, with the garden and house rent free,
+the minister lived.&nbsp; Once now and then - perhaps once in every
+three or four years - there was a baptism in Zoar, and at such times
+it was crowded.&nbsp; The children of the congregation, as a rule fell
+away from it as they grew up; but occasionally a girl remained faithful
+and was formally admitted to its communion.&nbsp; In front of the pulpit
+was an open space usually covered; but the boards could be taken up,
+and then a large kind of tank was disclosed, which was filled with water
+when the ceremony was performed.&nbsp; After hymns had been sung the
+minister went down into the water, and the candidate appeared dressed
+in a long white robe very much like a night-gown.&nbsp; The dear sister,
+during a short address, stood on the brink of the tank for a few moments,
+and then descended into it beside the minister, who, taking her by the
+neck and round the waist, ducked her fairly and completely.&nbsp; She
+emerged, and walked dripping into the vestry, where it was always said
+that hot brandy and water was ready.</p>
+<p>Many of us have felt that we would give all our books if we could
+but see with our own eyes how a single day was passed by a single ancient
+Jewish, Greek, or Roman family; how the house was opened in the morning;
+how the meals were prepared; what was said; how the husband, wife, and
+children went about their work; what clothes they wore, and what were
+their amusements.&nbsp; Would that the present historian could do as
+much for Cowfold!&nbsp; Would that he could bring back one blue summer
+morning, one afternoon and evening, and reproduce exactly what happened
+in Cowfold Square, in one of the Cowfold shops, in one of the Cowfold
+parlours, and in one Cowfold brain and heart.&nbsp; Could this be done
+with strictest accuracy, a book would be written, although Cowfold was
+not Athens, Rome, nor Jerusalem, which would live for many many years
+longer than much of the literature of this century.&nbsp; But alas!
+the preliminary image in the mind of the writer is faint enough, and
+when he comes to trace it, the pencil swerves and goes off into something
+utterly unlike it.&nbsp; An attempt, however, to show what the waking
+hours in Cowfold Square were like may not be out of place.&nbsp; The
+shopkeeper came into his shop at half-past seven, about half an hour
+after the shutters had been taken down by his apprentice.&nbsp; At eight
+o&rsquo;clock breakfast was ready; but before breakfast there was family
+worship, and a chapter was read from the Bible, followed by an extempore
+prayer from the head of the household.&nbsp; If the master happened
+to be absent, it was not considered proper that the mistress should
+pray extempore, and she used a book of &ldquo;Family Devotions.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+A very solid breakfast followed, and business began.&nbsp; It was very
+slow, but it was very human - much more so than business at the present
+day in the City.&nbsp; Every customer had something to say beyond his
+own immediate errand, and the shop was the place where everything touching
+Cowfold interests was abundantly discussed.&nbsp; Cowfold too, did much
+trade in the country round it.&nbsp; Most of the inhabitants kept a
+gig, and two or three times, perhaps, in a week a journey somewhere
+or other was necessary which was not in the least like a journey in
+a railway train.&nbsp; Debts in the villages were collected by the creditor
+in person, who called and invited his debtors to a most substantial
+dinner at the inn.&nbsp; At one o&rsquo;clock Cowfold dined.&nbsp; Between
+one and two nobody was to be seen in the streets, and the doors were
+either fastened or a bell was put upon them.&nbsp; After dinner the
+same duties returned in the shop; but inside the house dinner was the
+turning-point of the day.&nbsp; When the &ldquo;things were washed,
+up,&rdquo; servant and mistress began to smarten themselves, and disappearing
+into their bedrooms, emerged at four, to make preparations for tea,
+the meal most enjoyed in all Cowfold.&nbsp; If any spark of wit slept
+in any Cowfoldian male or female, it appeared then.&nbsp; No invitations
+to dinner were ever heard of; but tea was the opportunity for hospitality,
+especially amongst women.&nbsp; The minister, when he visited, invariably
+came to tea.&nbsp; The news circulated at tea, and, in fact, at tea
+between five and six, Cowfold, if its intellect could have been measured
+by a properly constructed gauge, would have been found many degrees
+higher in the scale than at any other hour.&nbsp; Granted that the conversation
+was personal, trivial, and even scandalous, it was in a measure philosophical.&nbsp;
+Cowfold, though it knew nothing, or next to nothing of abstractions,
+took immense interest in the creatures in which they were embodied.&nbsp;
+It would have turned a deaf ear to any debate on the nature of ethical
+obligation; but it was very keen indeed in apportioning blame to its
+neighbours who had sinned, and in deciding how far they had gone wrong.&nbsp;
+Cowfold in other words believed that flesh and blood, and not ideas,
+are the school and the religion for most of us, and that we learn a
+language by the examples rather than by the rules.&nbsp; The young scholar
+fresh from his study is impatient at what he considers the unprofitable
+gossip about the people round the corner; but when he gets older he
+sees that often it is much better than his books, and that distinctions
+are expressed by a washerwoman, if the objects to be distinguished eat
+and drink and sleep, which he would find it difficult to make with his
+symbols.&nbsp; Moreover, the little Cowfold clubs and parties understood
+what they were saying, and so far had an advantage over the clubs and
+parties which, since the days of penny newspapers, now discuss in Cowfold
+the designs of Russia, the graduation of the Income Tax, or the merits
+and demerits of the administration.&nbsp; The Cowfold horizon has now
+been widened, to use the phrase of an enlightened gentleman who came
+down and lectured there on the criminality of the advertisement duty;
+but unfortunately the eyes remain the same.&nbsp; Cowfold now looks
+abroad, and is very eloquent upon the fog in the distance, and the objects
+it thinks it sees therein; but, alas! what it has gained in inclusive
+breadth it has lost in definition.&nbsp; Politics, however, were not
+unknown in Cowfold; for before 1832 it was a borough, and after 1832
+it was one of the principal polling-places for the county.&nbsp; Nevertheless
+it was only on the eve of an election that anybody dabbled in them,
+and even then they were very rudimentary.&nbsp; The science to most
+of the voters meant nothing more than a preference of blue to yellow,
+or yellow to blue; and women had nothing whatever to do with it, excepting
+that wives always, of course, took their husbands&rsquo; colours.&nbsp;
+Politics, too, as a rule, were not mentioned in private houses.&nbsp;
+They were mostly reserved for the &ldquo;Angel,&rdquo; and for the brandies
+and water and pipes which collected there in the evening.</p>
+<p>To return.&nbsp; After tea the master went back once more to his
+counter, and the shutters were put up at eight.&nbsp; From eight to
+nine was an hour of which no account can be given: The lights were left
+burning in the shops, and the neighbour across the way looked in and
+remained talking till his supper was ready.&nbsp; Supper at nine, generally
+hot, was an institution never omitted, and, like tea, was convivial;
+but the conviviality was of a distinctly lower order.&nbsp; Everybody
+had whisky, gin, or brandy afterwards, and every male person who was
+of age smoked.&nbsp; There was, as a rule, no excess, but the remarks
+were apt to be disconnected and woolly; and the wife, who never had
+grog for herself, but always sipped her husband&rsquo;s went to sleep.&nbsp;
+Eleven o&rsquo;clock saw all Cowfold in bed, and disturbed only by such
+dreams as were begotten of the previous liver and bacon and alcohol.</p>
+<p>There were no villains amongst that portion of the inhabitants with
+which this history principally concerns itself, nor was a single adventure
+of any kind ever known to happen beyond the adventures of being born,
+getting married, falling sick, and dying, with now and then an accident
+from a gig.&nbsp; Consequently it might be though that there was no
+romance in Cowfold.&nbsp; There could not be a greater mistake.&nbsp;
+The history of every boy or girl of ordinary make is one of robbery,
+murder, imprisonment, death sentence, filing of chains, scaling of prison
+walls, recapture, scaffold, reprieve, poison, and pistols; the difference
+between such a history and that in the authorised versions being merely
+circumstantial.&nbsp; The garden of Eden, the murder of Cain, the deluge,
+the salvation of Noah, the exodus from Egypt, David and Bathsheba, with
+the murder of Uriah, the Assyrian invasion, the Incarnation, the Atonement,
+and the Resurrection from the Dead; to say nothing of the Decline and
+Fall of the Roman Empire, the tragedy of Count Cenci, the execution
+of Mary Queen of Scots, the Inquisition in Spain, and Revolt of the
+Netherlands, all happened in Cowfold, as well as elsewhere, and were
+perhaps more interesting there because they could be studied in detail
+and the records were authentic.</p>
+<p>Church Street, Cowfold - that is to say, the street in which the
+church stood - was tolerably broad going east and west, so that the
+sun shone full on the white window-frames and red brick of Mr. Muston&rsquo;s
+house, in which everything seemed to sleep in eternal calm.&nbsp; On
+the opposite side was the seminary, also red brick and white paint,
+facing the north; but, to make amends, the garden had a southern aspect,
+and the back of the house was covered with a huge magnolia whose edges
+curled round to the western side, so that it could be seen by wayfarers.&nbsp;
+It was a sight not to be forgotten - the red brick, the white paint,
+the July sun the magnolia leaves, the flanking elms on the east high
+above the chimneys, the glimpse of the acre of lawn through the great
+gates when they happened to be open, the peace, so profound, of summer
+noon!&nbsp; How lovely it looks as it hovers unsteadily before the eye,
+seen through the transfiguring haze of so many years!&nbsp; It was really,
+there is no doubt about it, handsomer than the stuccoed villa which
+stares at us over the way; but yet, if Cowfold Church Street, red brick,
+white paint, elms, lawn, and midsummer repose could be restored at the
+present moment, would it be exactly what the vision of it is?&nbsp;
+What is this magic gift which even for the humblest of us paints and
+frames these enchanting pictures?&nbsp; It is nothing less than the
+genius which is common to humanity.&nbsp; If we are not able to draw
+or model, we possess the power to select, group, and clothe with an
+ideal grace, which is the very soul of art, and every man and woman,
+every bush, nay, every cabbage, cup, and saucer, provided only it be
+not actually before us, becomes part of a divine picture.&nbsp; Would
+that we could do with the present what we do with the past!&nbsp; We
+<i>can</i> do something if we try.</p>
+<p>At the end of Church Street came the vicarage, and then the churchyard,
+with the church.&nbsp; Beyond was the park, which half embraced Cowfold,
+for it was possible to enter it not only from Church Street, but from
+North Street, which ran at right angles to it.&nbsp; The Hall was not
+much.&nbsp; It was a large plain stone mansion, built in the earlier
+part of the eighteenth century; but in front of the main entrance was
+a double row of limes stretching for a quarter of a mile, and the whole
+of the park was broken up into soft swelling hills, from whose tops,
+owing to the flatness of the country round, an almost immeasurable distance
+could be seen, gradually losing itself in deepening mist of tenderest
+blue.&nbsp; The park, too, was not rigidly circumscribed.&nbsp; Public
+roads led through it.&nbsp; It melted on two or three sides into cultivated
+fields, and even the private garden of the Hall seemed a part of it,
+for there was nothing between them but a kind of grassy ditch and an
+almost invisible fence.&nbsp; The domain of Cowfold Hall was the glory
+of Cowfold and the pride of its inhabitants.&nbsp; The modern love of
+scenery was not known in Cowfold, and still less was that worship of
+landscape and nature known which, as before observed, is peculiar to
+the generation born under the influence of Wordsworth.&nbsp; We have
+learnt, however, from Zachariah that even before Wordsworth&rsquo;s
+days people were sometimes touched by dawn or sunset.&nbsp; The morning
+cheered, the moon lent pathos and sentiment, and the stars awoke unanswerable
+interrogations in Cowfold, although it knew no poetry, save Dr. Watts,
+Pollok&rsquo;s <i>Course of Time</i>, and here and there a little of
+Cowper.&nbsp; Under the avenue, too, whose slender columns, in triple
+rows on either side, rose to an immense height, and met in a roof overhead
+with all the grace of cathedral stone, and without its superincumbent
+weight and imprisonment - a roof that was not impervious to the sunlight,
+but let it pass and fall in quivering flakes on the ground - Cowfold
+generally took off its hat, partly, no doubt, because the place was
+cool, but also as an act of homage.&nbsp; Here and in the woods adjoining
+youths and maidens for three hundred years had walked and made love,
+for, though the existing house was new, it stood on the site of a far
+older building.&nbsp; Dead men and women, lord and churl, gone to indistinguishable
+dust, or even beyond that - gone perhaps, into vapour and gas, which
+had been blown to New Zealand, and become men and women again - had
+burned with passion here, and vowed a union which was to last beyond
+the Judgment Day.&nbsp; They wept here, quarrelled here, rushed again
+into one another&rsquo;s arms here, swore to one another here, when
+Henry the Eighth was king; and they wept here, quarrelled here, embraced
+here, swore here, in exactly the same mad fashion, when William the
+Fourth sat upon the throne.&nbsp; Half-way up the avenue was a stone
+pillar commanding a gentle descent, one way to the Hall, and the other
+way to the lodge.&nbsp; It set forth the anguish of a former lord of
+the time of Queen Anne, who had lost his wife when she was twenty-six
+years old.&nbsp; She was beneath him in rank, but very beautiful, and
+his affection for her had fought with and triumphed over the cruel opposition
+of father, mother, and relations, who had other designs.&nbsp; He had
+made enemies of them all; but he won his wife, and, casting her in the
+scale, father, mother, and friends were as gossamer.&nbsp; She died
+two years after the wedding - to the very day.&nbsp; Rich in her love,
+he had never taken a thought to propitiate anybody, nor to make friends
+with the Mammon of Unrighteousness, and when she suddenly departed,
+he turned round and found himself alone.&nbsp; So far from knocking
+at men&rsquo;s doors, he more fiercely hated those who now, touched
+with pity, would gladly have welcomed him.&nbsp; He broke from them
+all, lived his own life, was reputed to be a freethinker, and when he
+came to his estate, a long while afterwards, he put up the obelisk,
+and recorded in Latin how Death, the foul adulterer, had ravished his
+sweet bride - the coward Death whom no man could challenge - and that
+the inconsolable bridegroom had erected this monument in memory of her
+matchless virtues.&nbsp; That was all: no blessed resurrection nor trust
+in the Saviour.&nbsp; The Reverend John Broad, minister of Tanner&rsquo;s
+Lane Chapel, when he brought visitors here regularly translated the
+epitaph.&nbsp; He was not very good at Latin, but he had somehow found
+out its meaning.&nbsp; He always observed that it was not classic, and
+consequently not easy to render.&nbsp; He pointed out, too, as a further
+curiosity, which somewhat increased the difficulty to any ordinary person,
+that V was used for U, and I for J.&nbsp; He never, as might be expected,
+omitted to enlarge upon the omission of any reference to the Atoning
+Blood and the Life to Come, and remarked how the poor man&rsquo;s sufferings
+would have been entirely &ldquo;assuaged&rdquo; - a favourite word with
+Mr. Broad - if he had believed in those &ldquo;remedies.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+At the same time Mr. Broad dwelt upon the &ldquo;associations&rdquo;
+of the avenue, which, he thought, added much to its natural &ldquo;attractiveness.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Cowfold thought so too, and welcomed the words as exactly expressing
+what it felt.&nbsp; John Broad and Cowfold were right, and more right,
+perhaps, than they knew.&nbsp; The draper&rsquo;s young man, who walked
+through the park with his arm round his young woman&rsquo;s waist, looked
+up at the obelisk, repeated its story, and became more serious.&nbsp;
+Thus it came to pass that the old lord&rsquo;s love lived again somewhat
+in the apprentice, and that which to the apprentice seemed most particularly
+himself was a little bit of the self of the Queen Anne&rsquo;s earl
+long since asleep in the vault under Cowfold Church.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII - WHEN WILT THOU ARISE OUT OF THY SLEEP?&nbsp; YET
+A LITTLE SLEEP</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>The Reverend John Broad was minister of Tanner&rsquo;s Lane Chapel,
+or, more properly, Meeting-house, a three gabled building, with the
+date 1688 upon it, which stood in a short street leading out of North
+Street.&nbsp; Why it was called Tanner&rsquo;s Lane nobody knew; for
+not in the memory of man had any tanner carried on his trade there.&nbsp;
+There was nothing of any consequence in it but the meeting-house, and
+when people said Tanner&rsquo;s Lane this was what they meant.&nbsp;
+There were about seven hundred and fifty sittings in it, and on Sundays
+it was tolerably full, for it was attended by large numbers of people
+from the surrounding villages, who came in gigs and carts, and brought
+their dinners with them, which they ate in the vestry.&nbsp; It was,
+in fact, the centre of the Dissenting activity for a whole district.&nbsp;
+It had small affiliated meeting-houses in places like Sheepgate, Hackston
+Green, and Bull&rsquo;s Cross, in which service was held on Sunday evening
+by the deacons of Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, or by some of the young men whom
+Mr. Broad prepared to be missionaries.&nbsp; For a great many years
+the congregation had apparently undergone no change in character; but
+the uniformity was only apparent.&nbsp; The fervid piety of Cowper&rsquo;s
+time and of the Evangelical revival was a thing almost of the past.&nbsp;
+The Reverend John Broad was certainly not of the Revival type.&nbsp;
+He was a big, gross-feeding, heavy person, with heavy ox-face and large
+mouth, who might have been bad enough for anything if nature had ordained
+that he should have been born in a hovel at Sheepgate or in the Black
+Country.&nbsp; As it happened, his father was a woollen draper, and
+John was brought up to the trade as a youth; got tired of it, thought
+he might do something more respectable; went to a Dissenting College;
+took charge of a little chapel in Buckinghamshire; married early; was
+removed to Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, and became a preacher of the Gospel.&nbsp;
+He was moderate in all of what he called his &ldquo;views;&rdquo; neither
+ultra-Calvinist nor Arminian not rigid upon Baptism, and certainly much
+unlike his lean and fervid predecessor, the Reverend James Harden, M.A.,
+who was educated at Cambridge; threw up all his chances there when he
+became convinced of sin; cast in his lot with the Independents, and
+wrestled even unto blood with the world, the flesh, and the devil in
+Cowfold for thirty years, till he was gathered to his rest.&nbsp; A
+fiery, ardent, untamable soul was Harden&rsquo;s, bold and uncompromising.&nbsp;
+He never scrupled to tell anybody what he thought, and would send an
+arrow sharp and swift through any iniquity, no matter where it might
+couch.&nbsp; He absolutely ruled Cowfold, hated by many, beloved by
+many, feared by all - a genuine soldier of the Cross.&nbsp; Mr. Broad
+very much preferred the indirect mode of doing good, and if he thought
+a brother had done wrong, contented himself with praying in private
+for him.&nbsp; He was, however, not a hypocrite, that is to say, not
+an ordinary novel or stage hypocrite.&nbsp; There is no such thing as
+a human being simply hypocritical or simply sincere.&nbsp; We are all
+hypocrites, more or less, in every word and every action, and, what
+is more, in every thought.&nbsp; It is a question simply of degree.&nbsp;
+Furthermore, there are degrees of natural capacity for sincerity, and
+Mr. Broad was probably as sincere as his build of soul and body allowed
+him to be.&nbsp; Certainly no doubt as to the truth of what he preached
+ever crossed his mind.&nbsp; He could not doubt, for there was no doubt
+in the air; and yet he could not believe as Harden believed, for neither
+was Harden&rsquo;s belief now in the air.&nbsp; Nor was Mr. Broad a
+criminal in any sense.&nbsp; He was upright, on the whole, in all his
+transactions, although a little greedy and hard, people thought, when
+the trustees proposed to remit to Widow Oakfield, on her husband&rsquo;s
+death, half the rent of a small field belonging to the meeting-house,
+and contributing a modest sum to Mr. Broad&rsquo;s revenue.&nbsp; He
+objected.&nbsp; Widow Oakfield was poor; but then she did not belong
+to Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, and was said to have relations who could help
+her.&nbsp; Mr. Broad loved his wife decently, brought up his children
+decently, and not the slightest breath of scandal ever tarnished his
+well-polished reputation.&nbsp; On some points he was most particular,
+and no young woman who came to him with her experience before she was
+admitted into the church was ever seen by him alone.&nbsp; Always was
+a deacon present, and all Cowfold admitted that the minister was most
+discreet.&nbsp; Another recommendation, too, was that he was temperate
+in his drink.&nbsp; He was not so in his meat.&nbsp; Supper was his
+great meal, and he would then consume beef, ham, or sausages, hot potatoes,
+mixed pickles, fruit pies, bread, cheese, and celery in quantities which
+were remarkable even in those days; but he never drank anything but
+beer - a pint at dinner and a pint at supper.</p>
+<p>On one Monday afternoon in July, 1840, Mr. and Mrs. Broad sat at
+tea in the study.&nbsp; This was Mr. Broad&rsquo;s habit on Monday afternoon.&nbsp;
+On that day, after the three sermons on the Sunday, he always professed
+himself &ldquo;Mondayish.&rdquo;&nbsp; The morning was given over to
+calling in the town; when he had dined he slept in his large leathern
+chair; and at five husband and wife had tea by themselves.&nbsp; Thomas,
+the eldest son, and his two younger sisters, Priscilla and Tryphosa,
+aged seventeen and fifteen, were sent to the dining-room.&nbsp; Mr.
+Broad never omitted this custom of spending an hour and a half on Monday
+with Mrs. Broad.&nbsp; It gave them an opportunity of talking over the
+affairs of the congregation, and it added to Mr. Broad&rsquo;s importance
+with the missionary students, because they saw how great were the weight
+and fatigue of the pastoral office.</p>
+<p>A flock like that which was shepherded by Mr. Broad required some
+management.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad took the women, and Mr. Broad the men;
+but Mrs. Broad was not a very able tactician.&nbsp; She was a Flavel
+by birth, and came from a distant part of the country.&nbsp; Her father
+was a Dissenting minister; but he was Dr. Flavel, with a great chapel
+in a great town.&nbsp; Consequently she gave herself airs, and occasionally
+let fall, to the great displeasure of the Cowfold ladies, words which
+implied some disparagement of Cowfold.&nbsp; She was a shortish, stout,
+upright little woman, who used a large fan and spoke with an accent
+strange to the Midlands.&nbsp; She was not a great help to the minister,
+because she was not sufficiently flexible and insinuating for her position;
+but nevertheless they always worked together, and she followed as well
+as she could the directions of her astuter husband, who, considering
+his bovine cast, was endowed with quite a preternatural sagacity in
+the secular business of his profession.</p>
+<p>On this particular afternoon, however, the subject of the conversation
+was not the congregation, but young Thomas Broad, aged eighteen, the
+exact, and almost ridiculously exact, counterpart of his father.&nbsp;
+He had never been allowed to go to school, but had been taught at home.&nbsp;
+There was only one day-school in Cowfold, and his mother objected to
+the &ldquo;mixture.&rdquo;&nbsp; She had been heard to say as much,
+and Cowfold resented this too, and the Cowfold youths resented it by
+holding Tommy Broad in extreme contempt.&nbsp; He had never been properly
+a boy, for he could play at no boyish games; had a tallowy, unpleasant
+complexion, went for formal walks, and carried gloves.&nbsp; But though
+in a sense incompletely developed, he was not incompletely developed
+in another direction.&nbsp; He was at what is called an awkward age,
+and both father and mother had detected in him an alarming tendency
+to enjoy the society of young women - a tendency much stimulated by
+his unnatural mode of life.&nbsp; Thomas was already a member of the
+church and was a teacher in the Sunday-school; but his mother was uneasy,
+for a serious attachment between Thomas and anybody in the town would
+have been very distasteful to her.&nbsp; The tea having been poured
+out, and Mr. Broad having fairly settled down upon the buttered toast
+and radishes, Mrs. Broad began:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Have you thought anything more about Thomas, my dear?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Being a minister&rsquo;s son, he was never called Tom by either papa
+or mamma.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, my love; but it is very difficult to know how to proceed
+judiciously in such a case.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mrs. Allen asked me, last Wednesday, when he was going to
+leave home, and I told her we had not made up our minds.&nbsp; She said
+that her brother in Birmingham wanted a youth in his office, but my
+answer was directly that we had quite determined that Thomas should
+not enter into any trade.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What did she say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That she was not surprised, for she hardly thought Thomas
+was fitted for it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The minister looked grave and perplexed, for Mr. Allen was in trade,
+and was a deacon.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad proceeded:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am quite sure Thomas ought to be a minister; and I am quite
+sure, too, he ought to leave Cowfold and go to college.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think this event might be procrastinated;
+the expense would be considerable.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, my dear, Fanny Allen came here to tea the day before
+yesterday.&nbsp; When she went away she could not find her clogs.&nbsp;
+I was on the landing, and saw what happened, though they did not think
+it.&nbsp; Fanny&rsquo;s brother was waiting outside.&nbsp; Priscilla
+had gone somewhere far the moment - I don&rsquo;t know where - and Tryphosa
+was upstairs.&nbsp; Thomas said he would look for the clogs, and presently
+I saw him fastening them for her.&nbsp; Then he walked with her down
+the garden.&nbsp; I just went into the front bedroom and looked.&nbsp;
+It was not very dark, and, - well, I may be mistaken, but I do believe
+- &rdquo;&nbsp; The rest of the sentence was wanting.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad
+stopped at this point.&nbsp; She felt it was more becoming to do so.&nbsp;
+She shifted on her chair with a fidgety motion, threw her head back
+a little, looked up at the portrait of Dr. Flavel in gown and bands
+which hung over the fireplace, straightened her gown upon her knees,
+and pushed it forward over her feet so as to cover them altogether -
+a mute protest against the impropriety of the scene she had partly described.&nbsp;
+Mr. Broad inwardly would have liked her to go on; but he always wore
+his white neckerchief, except when he was in bed, and he was still the
+Reverend John Broad, although nobody but his wife was with him.&nbsp;
+He therefore refrained, but after a while slowly observed:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thomas has not made much progress in systematic theology.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;They do not require much on admission, do they?&nbsp; He knows
+the outlines, and I am sure the committee will recollect my father and
+be glad to get Thomas.&nbsp; I have heard that the social position of
+the candidates is not what it used to be, and that they wish to obtain
+some of a superior stamp, who ultimately may be found adapted to metropolitan
+churches.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;One of the questions last year, my dear, was upon the office
+of the Comforter, and you remember Josiah Collins was remanded.&nbsp;
+I hardly think Thomas is sufficiently instructed on that subject at
+present; and there are others.&nbsp; On the whole, it is preferable
+that he should not go till September twelvemonths.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;His personal piety would have weight.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Undoubtedly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>There was a pause, and Mrs. Broad then continued:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, my dear, you know best; but what about Fanny?&nbsp;
+I shall not ask her again.&nbsp; How very forward, and indeed altogether&rdquo;
+- Another stoppage, another twitch at her gown, with another fidget
+on the chair, the eyes going up to Dr. Flavel&rsquo;s bands as before.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;In <i>our</i> house too - to put herself in Thomas&rsquo;s way!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ah!&nbsp; Mrs. Broad, are you sure Thomas did not go out of his way
+- even in your house, that eminently respectable, eminently orthodox
+residence - even Thomas, your Samuel, who had been granted to the Lord,
+and who, to use his own words when his written religious autobiography
+was read at the church-meeting, being the child of pious parents, and
+of many prayers, had never been exposed to those assaults of the enemy
+of souls which beset ordinary young men, and consequently had not undergone
+a sudden conversion?</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But,&rdquo; observed Mr. Broad, leaning back in his easy-chair,
+and half covering his face with his great broad, fat hand, &ldquo;we
+shall offend the Allens if Fanny does not come, and we shall injure
+the cause.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Has George Allen, Fanny&rsquo;s brother, prayed at the prayer-meeting
+yet?&nbsp; He was admitted two months ago.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Then ask his father to let him pray; and we need not invite
+Fanny till Thomas has left.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The papa objected that perhaps Thomas might go to the Allen&rsquo;s,
+but the mamma, with Dr. Flavel&rsquo;s bands before her, assured him
+that Thomas would do nothing of the kind.&nbsp; So it was settled that
+Mr. Broad should call at the Allen&rsquo;s to-morrow, and suggest that
+George should &ldquo;engage&rdquo; on the following Thursday.&nbsp;
+This, it was confidently hoped, would prevent any suspicion on their
+part that Fanny had been put aside.&nbsp; Of course, once having begun,
+George would be regularly on the list.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII - A RELIGIOUS PICNIC</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Occasionally, in the summer months, Tanner&rsquo;s Lane indulged
+in a picnic; that is to say, the principal members of the congregation,
+with their wives and children, had an early dinner, and went in gigs
+and four-wheel chaises to Shott Woods, taking hampers of bread, cake,
+jam, butter, ham, and other eatables with them.&nbsp; At Shott Woods,
+in a small green space under an immense oak, a fire was lighted and
+tea was prepared.&nbsp; Mr. Broad and his family always joined the party.&nbsp;
+These were the days when Dissenters had no set amusements, and the entertainment
+at Shott mainly consisted in getting the sticks for the fire, fetching
+the water, and waiting on one another; the waiting being particularly
+pleasant to the younger people.&nbsp; Dancing, of course, was not thought
+of.&nbsp; In 1840 it may safely be said that there were not twenty Independent
+families in Great Britain in which it would have been tolerated, and,
+moreover, none but the rich learned to dance.</p>
+<p>No dancing-master ever came into Cowfold; there was no music-master
+there; no concert was ever given; and Cowfold, in fact, never &ldquo;saw
+nor heard anything;&rdquo; to use a modern phrase, save a travelling
+menagerie with a brass band.&nbsp; What an existence!&nbsp; How <i>did</i>
+they live?&nbsp; It&rsquo;s certain, however, that they did live, and,
+on the whole, enjoyed their life.</p>
+<p>The picnics were generally on a Monday, as a kind of compliment to
+Mr. Broad, who was supposed to need rest and change on Monday, and who
+was also supposed not to be able to spare the time on any other day.&nbsp;
+About a month after the conversation recorded in the previous chapter
+Tanner&rsquo;s Lane was jogging along to Shott on one of its excursions.&nbsp;
+It was a brilliant, blazing afternoon towards the end of August.&nbsp;
+The corn stood in shocks, and a week with that sun would see it all
+stacked.&nbsp; There was no dreary suburb round Cowfold, neither town
+nor country, to shut out country influences.&nbsp; The fields came up
+to the gardens and orchards at the back of half the houses, and flowed
+irregularly, like an inundation, into the angles of the streets.&nbsp;
+As you walked past the great gate of the &ldquo;Angel&rdquo; yard you
+could see the meadow at the bottom belonging to Hundred Acres.&nbsp;
+Consequently all Cowfold took an interest in agriculture, and knew a
+good deal about it.&nbsp; Every shopkeeper was half a farmer, and understood
+the points of a pig or a horse.&nbsp; Cowfold was not a town properly
+speaking, but the country a little thickened and congested.&nbsp; The
+conversation turned upon the crops, and more particularly upon turnips
+and drainage, both of them a new importation.&nbsp; Hitherto all the
+parishes round had no drainage whatever, excepting along the bottoms
+of the ridges, and the now familiar red pipes had just made their appearance
+on a farm belonging to a stranger to those parts - a young fellow from
+Norfolk.&nbsp; Everybody was sceptical, and called him a fool.&nbsp;
+Everybody wanted to know how water was going to get through fifteen
+inches of heavy land when it would lie for two days where a horse trod.&nbsp;
+However, the pipes went in, and it so happened that the first wet day
+after they were laid was a Sunday.&nbsp; The congregation in Shott Church
+was very restless, although the sermon was unusually short.&nbsp; One
+by one they crept out, and presently they were followed by the parson.&nbsp;
+All of them had collected in the pouring rain and were watching the
+outfall in the ditches.&nbsp; To their unspeakable amazement the pipes
+were all running!&nbsp; Shott scratched its head and was utterly bewildered.&nbsp;
+A new idea in a brain not accustomed to the invasion of ideas produces
+a disturbance like a revolution.&nbsp; It causes giddiness almost as
+bad as that of a fit, and an extremely unpleasant sensation of having
+been whirled round and turned head over heels.&nbsp; It was the beginning
+of new things in Shott, the beginning of a breakdown in its traditions;
+a belief in something outside the ordinary parochial uniformities was
+forced into the skull of every man, woman, and child by the evidence
+of the senses; and when other beliefs asked, in the course of time,
+for admittance they found the entrance easier than it would have been
+otherwise.</p>
+<p>The elderly occupants of the Tanner&rsquo;s Lane gigs and chaises
+talked exclusively upon these and other cognate topics.&nbsp; The sons
+and daughters talked about other things utterly unworthy of any record
+in a serious history.&nbsp; Delightful their chatter was to them.&nbsp;
+What does it signify to eighteen years what is said on such an afternoon
+by seventeen years, when seventeen years is in a charming white muslin
+dress, with the prettiest hat?&nbsp; Words are of importance between
+me and you, who care little or nothing for one another.&nbsp; But there
+is a thrice blessed time when words are nothing.&nbsp; The real word
+is that which is not uttered.&nbsp; We may be silent, or we may be eloquent
+with nonsense or sense - it is all one.&nbsp; So it was between George
+Allen and Miss Priscilla Broad, who at the present moment were sitting
+next to one another.&nbsp; George was a broad, hearty, sandy-haired,
+sanguine-faced young fellow of one and twenty, eldest son of the ironmonger.&nbsp;
+His education had been that of the middle classes of those days.&nbsp;
+Leaving school at fourteen, he had been apprenticed to his father for
+seven years, and had worked at the forge down the backyard before coming
+into the front shop.&nbsp; On week-days he generally wore a waistcoat
+with sleeves and a black apron.&nbsp; He was never dirty; in fact, he
+was rather particular as to neatness and cleanliness; but he was always
+a little dingy and iron-coloured, as retail ironmongers are apt to be.&nbsp;
+He was now in charge of the business under his father; stood behind
+the counter; weighed nails; examined locks brought for repair; went
+to the different houses in Cowfold with a man under him to look at boiler-pipes,
+the man wearing a cap and George a tall hat.&nbsp; He had a hard, healthy,
+honest life, was up at six o&rsquo;clock in the morning, ate well, and
+slept well.&nbsp; He was always permitted by his father to go on these
+excursions, and, in fact, they could not have been a success without
+him.&nbsp; If anything went wrong he was always the man to set it right.&nbsp;
+If a horse became restive, George was invariably the one to jump out,
+and nobody else thought of stirring.&nbsp; He had good expectations.&nbsp;
+The house in which the Allens lived was their own.&nbsp; Mr. Allen did
+a thriving trade, not only in Cowfold, but in all the country round,
+and particularly among the village blacksmiths, to whom he sold iron.&nbsp;
+He had steadily saved money, and had enlarged the original little back
+parlour into a room which would hold comfortably a tea-party of ten
+or a dozen.</p>
+<p>Miss Priscilla Broad was framed after a different model.&nbsp; Her
+face was not much unlike that of one of those women of the Restoration
+so familiar to us in half a hundred pictures.&nbsp; Not that Restoration
+levity and Restoration manners were chargeable to Miss Priscilla.&nbsp;
+She never forgot her parentage; but there were the same kind of prettiness,
+the same sideways look, the same simper about the lips, and there were
+the same flat unilluminated eyes.&nbsp; She had darkish brown hair,
+which fell in rather formal curls on her shoulder, and she was commonly
+thought to be &ldquo;delicate.&rdquo;&nbsp; Like her sister and brother,
+she had never been to school, on account of the &ldquo;mixture,&rdquo;
+but had been taught by her mother.&nbsp; Her accomplishments included
+Scripture and English history, arithmetic, geography, the use of the
+globes, and dates.&nbsp; She had a very difficult part to play in Cowfold,
+for she was obliged to visit freely all Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, but at
+the same time to hold herself above it and not to form any exclusive
+friendships.&nbsp; These would have been most injudicious, because,
+in the first place, they would have excited jealousy, and, in the next
+place, the minister&rsquo;s daughter could not be expected to be very
+intimate with anybody belonging to the congregation.&nbsp; She was not
+particularly popular with the majority, and was even thought to be just
+a bit of a fool.&nbsp; But what could she have been with such surroundings?&nbsp;
+The time had passed when religion could be talked on week-days, and
+the present time, when ministers&rsquo; children learn French, German,
+and Latin, and read selected plays of Shakespeare, had not come.&nbsp;
+Miss Priscilla Broad found it very difficult, also, to steer her course
+properly amongst the young men in Cowfold.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad would not
+have permitted any one of them for a moment to dream of an alliance
+with her family.&nbsp; As soon might a Princess of the Blood Royal unite
+herself with an ordinary knight.&nbsp; Miss Broad, however, as her resources
+within herself were not particularly strong, thought about little or
+nothing else than ensnaring the hearts of the younger Cowfold males
+- that is to say, the hearts which were converted, and yet she encouraged
+none of them, save by a general acceptance of little attentions, by
+little mincing smiles, and little mincing speeches.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Such a beautiful day,&rdquo; said George, &ldquo;and such
+pleasant company!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really, Mr. Allen, don&rsquo;t you think it would have been
+pleasanter for you in front?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What did you say, my dear?&rdquo; came immediately from her
+mother, the ever-watchful dragon just before them.&nbsp; She forthwith
+turned a little round, for the sun was on her left hand, and with her
+right eye kept Priscilla well in view for the rest of the journey.</p>
+<p>In the chaise behind pretty much the same story was told, but with
+a difference.&nbsp; In the back part were Mr. Thomas Broad and Miss
+Fanny Allen.&nbsp; The arrangement which brought these two together
+was most objectionable to Mrs. Broad; but unfortunately she was a little
+late in starting, and it was made before she arrived.&nbsp; She could
+not, without insulting the Allens, have it altered; but she consoled
+herself by vowing that it should not stand on the return journey in
+the dusk.&nbsp; Miss Fanny was flattered that the minister&rsquo;s son
+should be by her side, and the minister&rsquo;s son was not in the least
+deterred from playing with Miss Fanny by the weight of responsibility
+which oppressed and checked his sister.&nbsp; He did not laugh much;
+he had not a nature for wholesome laughter, but he chuckled, lengthened
+his lips, half shut his eyes; asked his companion whether the rail did
+not hurt her, put his arm on the top, so that she might lean against
+it, and talked in a manner which even she would have considered a little
+silly and a little odd, if his position, that of a student for the ministry,
+had not surrounded him with such a halo of glory.</p>
+<p>Presently Shott Woods were reached; the parcels and hampers were
+unpacked, the fire was lit, the tea prepared, and the pastor asked a
+blessing.&nbsp; Everybody sat on the grass, save the reverend gentleman
+and his wife, who had chairs which had been brought on purpose.&nbsp;
+It would not have been considered proper that Mr. or Mrs. Broad should
+sit upon the grass, and indeed physically it would have been inconvenient
+to Mr. Broad to do so.&nbsp; He ate his ham in considerable quantities,
+adding thereto much plumcake, and excusing himself on the ground that
+the ride had given him an appetite.&nbsp; The meal being over, grace
+was said, and the victuals that were left were repacked.&nbsp; About
+an hour remained before the return journey began.&nbsp; This was usually
+passed in sauntering about or in walking to the springs, a mile away,
+down one of the grass drives.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad never for a moment lost
+sight of Thomas, and pressed him as much as possible into her service;
+but when Mrs. Allen announced that the young people had all determined
+to go to the springs, Mrs. Broad could not hold out.&nbsp; Accordingly
+off they started, under strict orders to be back by eight.&nbsp; They
+mixed themselves up pretty indiscriminately as they left their seniors;
+but after a while certain affinities displayed themselves, George being
+found with Priscilla, for example, and Thomas with Fanny.&nbsp; The
+party kept together; but Thomas and Fanny lagged somewhat till they
+came to a little opening in the underwood, which Thomas said was a short
+cut, and he pressed her to try it with him.&nbsp; She agreed, and they
+slipped out of sight nearly, but not, quite, unobserved.&nbsp; Thomas
+professed himself afraid Fanny might be tired, and offered his arm.&nbsp;
+She again consented, not without a flutter, and so they reached a clearing
+with three or four paths branching from it.&nbsp; Thomas was puzzled,
+and as for Fanny, she knew nothing.&nbsp; To add to their perplexity
+some drops of rain were felt.&nbsp; She was a little frightened, and
+was anxious to try one of the most likely tracks which looked, she thought,
+as if it went to the springs, where they could take shelter in the cottage
+with the others.&nbsp; Thomas, however, was doubtful, and proposed that
+they should stand up in a shed which had been used for faggot-making.&nbsp;
+The rain, which now came down heavily, enforced his arguments, and she
+felt obliged to stay till the shower had ceased.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Only think, Fanny,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to be here alone
+with you!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He called her Fanny now; he had always called her Miss Allen before.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said she, not knowing what answer to make.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You are cold,&rdquo; he added, with a little trembling in
+his voice and a little more light than usual in his eyes.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no, I am not cold.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I know you are,&rdquo; and he took her hand; &ldquo;why, it
+is quite cold.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh dear no, Mr. Thomas, it is really not cold,&rdquo; and
+she made a movement to withdraw it, but it remained.</p>
+<p>The touch of the hand caused his voice to shake a little more than
+before.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I say you are cold; come a little closer to me.&nbsp; What
+will your mamma say if you catch a chill?&rdquo; and he drew Fanny a
+little nearer to him.&nbsp; The thick blood now drove through him with
+increasing speed: everything seemed in a mist, and a little perspiration
+was on his forehead.&nbsp; His arm found its way round Fanny&rsquo;s
+waist, and he pressed her closer and closer to him till his hot lips
+were upon her cheek.&nbsp; She made two or three futile attempts to
+release herself; but she might as well have striven with that brazen,
+red-hot idol who was made to clasp his victims to death.&nbsp; She was
+frightened and screamed, when suddenly a strong man&rsquo;s voice was
+heard calling &ldquo;Fanny, Fanny.&rdquo;&nbsp; It was her brother.&nbsp;
+Knowing that she and Thomas had no umbrellas, he had brought them a
+couple.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But, Fanny,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;did I not hear you scream?&nbsp;
+What was the matter?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; hastily interposed Thomas; &ldquo;she thought
+she saw it lighten.&rdquo;&nbsp; Fanny looked at Thomas for a moment;
+but she was scared and bewildered, and held her peace.</p>
+<p>The three went down to the rendezvous together, where the rest of
+the party had already assembled.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad had been very uneasy
+when she found that Thomas and Fanny were the only absentees, and she
+had urged George the moment she saw him to look for his sister without
+a moment&rsquo;s delay.&nbsp; The excuse of the rain was given and accepted;
+but Mrs. Broad felt convinced from Fanny&rsquo;s forward look that she
+had once more thrown herself in the way of her beloved child, her delicate
+Samuel.&nbsp; She was increasingly anxious that he should go to college,
+and his papa promised at once to transmit the application.&nbsp; Meanwhile,
+in the few days left before the examination, he undertook to improve
+Thomas where he was weakest, that is to say, in Systematic Theology,
+and more particularly in the doctrine of the Comforter.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX - &ldquo;THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO LEAVEN&rdquo;</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Mr. Isaac Allen, Fanny&rsquo;s father, was an ardent Whig in politics
+- what in later years would have been called a Radical.&nbsp; He had
+been apprenticed in London, and had attended Mr. Bradshaw&rsquo;s ministrations
+there.&nbsp; He was the chosen friend of Zachariah Coleman; but although
+he loved Zachariah, he had held but little intercourse with him during
+his first marriage.&nbsp; There were family reasons for the estrangement,
+due principally to a quarrel between Mrs. Isaac and the first Mrs. Zachariah.&nbsp;
+But after Mrs. Zachariah had died and her husband suffered so much Isaac
+was drawn to him again.&nbsp; He was proud of him as a martyr for a
+good cause, and he often saw him when he went to London on business.</p>
+<p>It was in consequence of these London visits that books appeared
+on the little book-shelf in Cowfold Square which were to be found nowhere
+else in the town, at any rate not in the Dissenting portion of it.&nbsp;
+It was a little bookcase, it is true, for people in country places were
+not great readers in those days; but Sir Walter Scott was there, and
+upstairs in Mr. Allen&rsquo;s room there was Byron - not an uncut copy,
+but one well used both by husband and wife.&nbsp; Mrs. Allen was not
+a particularly robust woman, although she was energetic.&nbsp; Often
+without warning, she would not make her appearance till twelve or one
+o&rsquo;clock in the day, and would have her fire alight in her bedroom
+and take her breakfast in bed.&nbsp; It was well understood when she
+was not at the table with the others that the house was to be kept quiet.&nbsp;
+After a cup of tea - nothing more - she rose and sat reading for a good
+two hours.&nbsp; It was not that she was particularly unwell - she simply
+needed rest.&nbsp; Every now and then retreat from the world and perfect
+isolation were a necessity to her.&nbsp; If she forced herself to come
+downstairs when she ought to be by herself she became really ill.&nbsp;
+Occasionally the fire was alight in the evening, too, and she would
+be off the moment tea was over, Isaac frequently joining her then, although
+he never remained with her in the morning.&nbsp; She was almost sure
+to escape on the day following any excitement or undue worry about household
+affairs.&nbsp; She knew Sir Walter Scott from end to end, and as few
+people knew him.&nbsp; He had been to her, and to her husband too, what
+he can only be to people leading a dull life far from the world.&nbsp;
+He had broken up its monotony and created a new universe!&nbsp; He had
+introduced them into a royal society of noble friends.&nbsp; He had
+added to the ordinary motives which prompted Cowfold action a thousand
+higher motives.&nbsp; Then there was the charm of the magician, so sanative,
+so blessed, felt directly any volume of that glorious number was opened.&nbsp;
+<i>Kenilworth</i> or <i>Redgauntlet</i> was taken down, and the reader
+was at once in another country and in another age, transported as if
+by some Arabian charm away from Cowfold cares.&nbsp; If anywhere in
+another world the blessings which men have conferred here are taken
+into account in distributing reward, surely the choicest in the store
+of the Most High will be reserved for His servant Scott!&nbsp; It may
+be said of others that they have made the world wise or rich, but of
+him it must be said that <i>he</i>, <i>more than all</i>, <i>has made
+the world happier</i> - wiser too, wiser through its happiness.</p>
+<p>Of the influence of Byron nothing more need be said here, because
+so much has been said before.&nbsp; It may seem strange that the deacon
+of a Dissenting chapel and his wife could read him, and could continue
+to wait upon the ministrations of the Reverend John Broad; but I am
+only stating a fact.&nbsp; Mrs. Allen could repeat page after page of
+<i>Childe Harold</i>, and yet she went diligently to Tanner&rsquo;s
+Lane.&nbsp; Part of what was read exhaled in the almost republican politics
+of the Allen household; but it had also its effect in another direction,
+and it was always felt by the Broads that the Allens were questionable
+members of the flock.&nbsp; They were gathered into the fold on Sunday,
+and had the genuine J. B. on their wool, but there was a cross in them.&nbsp;
+There was nothing which could be urged against them.&nbsp; No word of
+heresy ever escaped them, no symptom of disbelief was ever seen and
+yet Mr. Broad often desired exceedingly that they were different, was
+never at ease with them, and in his heart of hearts bitterly hated them.&nbsp;
+After all that can be said by way of explanation, there was much in
+this concealed animosity of Mr. Broad which was unaccountable.&nbsp;
+It was concealed because he was far too worldly-wise to show it openly;
+but it was none the less intense.&nbsp; Indeed, it was so intense as
+to be almost inconsistent with Mr. Broad&rsquo;s cast of character,
+and his biographer is at a loss to find the precise point where it naturally
+connects itself with the main stem from which branch off the rest of
+his virtues and vices.&nbsp; However, there it was, and perhaps some
+shrewder psychologist may be able to explain how such a passion could
+be begotten in a nature otherwise so somnolent.</p>
+<p>For this literary leaven in the Allen&rsquo;s household, as we have
+said, Zachariah was answerable.&nbsp; Mrs. Allen loved him as she loved
+her father, and he wrote to her long letters, through which travelled
+into Cowfold Square all the thought of the Revolution.&nbsp; He never
+went to Cowfold himself, nor could he ever be persuaded to let little
+Pauline go.&nbsp; She had been frequently invited, but he always declined
+the invitation courteously on the ground that he could not spare her.&nbsp;
+The fame of her beauty and abilities had, however, reached Cowfold,
+and so it came to pass that when Mr. Thomas Broad, junior, being duly
+instructed in the doctrine of the Comforter, entered the Dissenting
+College in London, he determined that at the first opportunity he would
+call and see her.&nbsp; He had been privately warned both by his father
+and mother that he was on no account to visit this particular friend
+of the Allens, firstly, because Zachariah was reputed to be, &ldquo;inclined
+towards infidelity,&rdquo; and secondly, because, summing up the whole
+argument, he was not &ldquo;considered respectable.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course, my dear, you know his history,&rdquo; quoth Mrs.
+Broad, &ldquo;and it would very much interfere with your usefulness
+if you were to be intimate with him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Little Pauline had by this time grown to be a woman, or very nearly
+one.&nbsp; She had, as in nine times, perhaps, out of ten is the case,
+inherited her temperament from her mother.&nbsp; She had also inherited
+something more, for she was like her in face.&nbsp; She had the same
+luxuriantly dark hair - a wonder to behold when it was let down over
+her shoulders - the same grey eyes, the same singularly erect attitude,
+and lips which, although they were not tight and screwed up, were always
+set with decision.&nbsp; But her distinguishing peculiarity was her
+inherited vivacity, which was perfectly natural, but frequently exposed
+her - just as it did her mother - to the charge of being theatrical.&nbsp;
+The criticism was as unjust in her case as in that of her mother, if
+by being theatrical we mean being unreal.&nbsp; The unreal person is
+the half-alive languid person.&nbsp; Pauline felt what she said, and
+acted it in every gesture.&nbsp; Her precious promptitude of expression
+made her invaluable as a companion to her father.&nbsp; He was English
+all over and all through; hypochondriacal, with a strong tendency to
+self-involution and self-absorption.&nbsp; She was only half English,
+or rather altogether French, and when he came home in the evening he
+often felt as if some heavy obstruction in his brain and about his heart
+were suddenly dissolved.&nbsp; She and her mother were like Hercules
+in the house of Admetus.&nbsp; Before Hercules has promised to rescue
+Alcestis we feel that the darkness has disappeared.&nbsp; Pauline was
+loved by her father with intense passion.&nbsp; When she was a little
+child, and he was left alone with a bitter sense of wrong, a feeling
+that he had more than his proper share of life&rsquo;s misery, his heart
+was closed, and he cared for no friendship.&nbsp; But the man&rsquo;s
+nature could not be thus thwarted, and gradually it poured itself out
+in full flood - denied exit elsewhere - at this one small point.&nbsp;
+He rejoiced to find that he had not stiffened into death, and he often
+went up to her bedside as she lay asleep, and the tears came, and he
+thanked God, not only for her but for his tears.&nbsp; He could not
+afford to bring her up like a lady, but he did his best to give her
+a good education.&nbsp; He was very anxious that she should learn French,
+and as she was wonderfully quick at languages, she managed in a very
+short time to speak it fluently.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX - THE REVEREND THOMAS BROAD&rsquo;S EXPOSITION OF ROMANS
+VIII. 7</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Such was the Coleman household when Mr. Thomas Broad called one fine
+Monday afternoon about three months after he had been at college.&nbsp;
+He had preached his first sermon on the Sunday before, in a village
+about twelve miles from London in a north-easterly direction, somewhere
+in the flat regions of Essex.&nbsp; Mr. Thomas was in unusually good
+humour, for he had not broken down, and thought he had crowned himself
+with glory.&nbsp; The trial, to be sure, was not very severe.&nbsp;
+The so-called chapel was the downstairs living-room of a cottage holding
+at a squeeze about five-and-twenty people.&nbsp; Nevertheless, there
+was a desk at one corner, with two candles on either side, and Mr. Thomas
+was actually, for the first time, elevated above an audience.&nbsp;
+It consisted of the wheelwright and his wife, both very old, half a
+dozen labourers, with their wives, and two or three children.&nbsp;
+The old wheelwright, as he was in business, was called the &ldquo;principal
+support of the cause.&rdquo;&nbsp; The &ldquo;cause,&rdquo; however,
+was not particularly prosperous, nor its supporters enthusiastic.&nbsp;
+It was &ldquo;supplied&rdquo; always by a succession of first-year&rsquo;s
+students, who made their experiments on the <i>corpus vile</i> here.&nbsp;
+Spiritual teaching, spiritual guidance, these poor peasants had none,
+and when the Monday came they went to their work in the marshes and
+elsewhere, and lived their blind lives under grey skies, with nothing
+left in them of the Sunday, save the recollection of a certain routine
+performed which might one day save them from some disaster with which
+flames and brimstone had something to do.&nbsp; It was not, however,
+a reality to them.&nbsp; Neither the future nor the past was real to
+them; no spiritual existence was real; nothing, in fact, save the most
+stimulant sensation.&nbsp; Once upon a time, a man, looking towards
+the celestial city, saw &ldquo;The reflection of the sun upon the city
+(for the city was of pure gold), so exceeding glorious that he could
+not as yet with open face behold it, save through an instrument made
+for that purpose;&rdquo; but Mr. Thomas Broad and his hearers needed
+no smoked glass now to prevent injury to their eyes.&nbsp; Mr. Thomas
+had put on a white neckerchief, had mounted the desk, and had spoken
+for three-quarters of an hour from the text, &ldquo;The carnal mind
+is at enmity with God.&rdquo;&nbsp; He had received during the last
+three weeks his first lectures on the &ldquo;Scheme of Salvation,&rdquo;
+and his discourse was a reproduction of his notes thereon.&nbsp; The
+wheelwright and his wife, and the six labourers with their wives, listened
+as oxen might listen, wandered home along the lanes heavy-footed like
+oxen, with heads towards the ground, and went heavily to bed.&nbsp;
+The elder student who had accompanied Mr. Thomas informed him that,
+on the whole, he had acquitted himself very well, but that it would
+be better, perhaps, in future to be a little simpler, and avoid what
+&ldquo;may be called the metaphysics of Redemption.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No doubt,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;they are very attractive,
+and of enormous importance.&nbsp; There is no objection to expound them
+before a cultivated congregation in London; but in the villages we cannot
+be too plain - that, at least, is my experience.&nbsp; Simply tell them
+we are all sinners, and deserve damnation.&nbsp; God sent His Son into
+the world.&nbsp; If we believe in Him we shall be saved; if not, we
+shall be lost.&nbsp; There is no mystery in that; everybody can understand
+it; and people are never weary of hearing the old old gospel.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Thomas was well contented with himself, as we have said, when
+he knocked at Zachariah&rsquo;s door.&nbsp; It was opened by Pauline.&nbsp;
+He took off his hat and smiled.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My name is Broad.&nbsp; I come from Cowfold, and know the
+Allens very well.&nbsp; I am now living in London, and having heard
+of you so often, I thought I should like to call.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Pray come in,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;I am very glad to see
+you.&nbsp; I wish my father were here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was shown into the little front room, and after some inquiries
+about his relations Pauline asked him where was his abode in London.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;At the Independent College.&nbsp; I am studying for the ministry.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pauline was not quite sure what &ldquo;the ministry&rdquo; meant;
+but as Mr. Thomas had yesterday&rsquo;s white tie round his neck - he
+always &ldquo;dirtied out&rdquo; the Sunday&rsquo;s neckerchief on Monday,
+and wore a black one on the other week-days - she guessed his occupation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dear me! you must be tired with walking so far.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh no, not tired with walking; but the fact is I am a little
+Mondayish.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A little what?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Thomas giggled a little.&nbsp; &ldquo;Ah, you young ladies, of
+course, don&rsquo;t know what that means.&nbsp; I had to conduct a service
+in the country yesterday, and am rather fatigued.&nbsp; I am generally
+so on Mondays, and I always relax on that day.&rdquo;&nbsp; This, it
+is to be remembered, was his first Monday.</p>
+<p>Pauline regretted very much that she had no wine in the house; neither
+had they any beer.&nbsp; They were not total abstainers, but nothing
+of the kind was kept in their small store-closet.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, thank you; never mind.&rdquo;&nbsp; He took a bottle of
+smelling-salts from the mantelpiece and smelt it.&nbsp; The conversation
+flagged a little.&nbsp; Pauline sat at the window, and Mr. Thomas at
+the table.&nbsp; At last he observed.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Are you alone all day?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Generally, except on Sunday.&nbsp; Father does not get home
+till late.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dear me!&nbsp; And you are not dull nor afraid?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dull or afraid!&nbsp; Why?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, well,&rdquo; he sniggered, &ldquo;dull - why, young ladies,
+you know, usually like society.&nbsp; At least,&rdquo; and he laughed
+a little greasy laugh at his wit, &ldquo;we like theirs.&nbsp; And then
+- afraid - well, if my sister were so attractive&rdquo; - he looked
+to see if this pretty compliment was effective - &ldquo;I should not
+like her to be without anybody in the house.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pauline became impatient.&nbsp; She rose.&nbsp; &ldquo;When you come
+again,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I hope my father will be here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Thomas rose too.&nbsp; He had begun to feel awkward.&nbsp; For
+want of something better to say, he asked whose was the portrait over
+the mantelpiece.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Major Cartwright.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Major Cartwright!&nbsp; Dear me, is that Major Cartwright?&rdquo;&nbsp;
+He had never heard of him before, but he did not like to profess ignorance
+of a Major.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;And this likeness of this young gentleman?&rdquo; he inquired,
+looking at Pauline sideways, with an odious simper on his lips.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Nobody I know, I suppose?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My father when he was one-and-twenty.&rdquo;&nbsp; She moved
+towards the door.&nbsp; Mr. Thomas closed his fat eyes till they became
+almost slits, simpered still more effectively, as he thought, trusted
+he might have the pleasure of calling again, and departed.</p>
+<p>Pauline returned, opened the window and door for ten minutes, and
+went upstairs.&nbsp; When she saw her father she told him briefly that
+she had entertained a visitor, and expressed her utter loathing of him
+in terms so strong that he was obliged to check her.&nbsp; He did not
+want a quarrel with any of Isaac&rsquo;s friends.</p>
+<p>Mr. Thomas, having returned to the college, did not delay to communicate
+by mysterious hints to his colleagues that he was on visiting terms
+with a most delightfully charming person, and sunned himself deliciously
+in their bantering congratulations.&nbsp; About three weeks afterwards
+he thought he might safely repeat his visit; but he was in a difficulty.&nbsp;
+He was not quite so stupid as not to see that, the next time he went,
+it ought to be when her father was present, and yet he preferred his
+absence.&nbsp; At last he determined he would go about tea-time.&nbsp;
+He was quite sure that Mr. Coleman would not have returned then; but
+he could assume that he had, and would propose to wait for him.&nbsp;
+He therefore duly presented himself at half-past five.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Good-evening, Miss Coleman.&nbsp; Is your father at home?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, not yet,&rdquo; replied Pauline, holding the door doubtingly.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, I am so sorry;&rdquo; and, to Pauline&rsquo;s surprise,
+he entered without any further ceremony.&nbsp; She hardly knew what
+to do; but she followed him as he walked into the room, where she had
+just laid the tea-things and put the bread and butter on the table.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, tea!&rdquo; he cried.&nbsp; &ldquo;Dear me, it would be
+very rude of me to ask myself to tea, and yet, do you know, Miss Coleman,
+I can hardly help it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am afraid my father will not be here till eight.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+He sat down.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That is very unfortunate.&nbsp; You will tell him I came on
+purpose to see him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pauline hesitated whether she should or should not inform Mr. Thomas
+that his presence was disagreeable, but her father&rsquo;s caution recurred
+to her, and she poured out a cup for her visitor.</p>
+<p>It was one of his peculiarities that tea, of which he took enormous
+quantities, made him garrulous, and he expatiated much upon his college.&nbsp;
+By degrees, however, he became silent, and as he was sitting with his
+face to the window, he shifted his chair to the opposite side, under
+the pretence that the light dazzled his eyes.&nbsp; Pauline shifted
+too, apparently to make room for him, but really to get farther from
+him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Do people generally say that you take after your mother?&rdquo;
+he said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I believe I am like my mother in many things.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Another pause.&nbsp; He became fidgety; the half smile, half grin
+which he almost perpetually wore passed altogether from his face, and
+he looked uncomfortable and dangerous.&nbsp; Pauline felt him to be
+so, and resolved that, come what might, he should never set foot in
+the house again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You have such black hair,&rdquo; he observed.</p>
+<p>She rose to take away the tea-things.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; said she, &ldquo;that I must go out; I
+have one or two commissions to execute.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He remained seated, and observed that surely she would not go alone.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; and having collected the tea-things, she was
+on the point of leaving.&nbsp; He then rose, and she bade him good-bye.&nbsp;
+He held out his hand, and she took it in hers, but he did not let it
+go, and having pulled it upwards with much force, kissed it.&nbsp; He
+still held it, and before the astonished Pauline knew what he was doing
+his arm was round her waist.&nbsp; At that moment the little front gate
+swung back.&nbsp; Nobody was there; but the Reverend Thomas was alarmed,
+and in an instant she had freed herself, and had placed the table between
+them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean, you Gadarene pig, you scoundrel, by insulting
+a stranger in this way?&rdquo; she cried.&nbsp; &ldquo;Away!&nbsp; My
+father will know what to do with you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, if you please, Miss Coleman, pray say nothing about it,
+pray do not mention it to your father; I do not know what the consequences
+will be; I really meant nothing; I really did not&rdquo; - which was
+entirely true.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You who propose to teach religion to people!&nbsp; I ought
+to stop you; but no, I will not be dragged into the mud.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A sudden thought struck her.&nbsp; He was shaky, and was holding
+on by the table.&nbsp; &ldquo;I will be silent,&rdquo; she cried - what
+a relief it was to him to hear her say that! &ldquo;but I will mark
+you,&rdquo; and before he could comprehend what she was doing she had
+seized a little pair of scissors which lay near her, had caught his
+wrist, and had scored a deep cross on the back of the hand.&nbsp; The
+blood burst out and she threw him a handkerchief.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Take that and be gone!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He was so amazed and terrified, not only at the sight of the blood,
+but at her extraordinary behaviour, that he turned ghastly white.&nbsp;
+The pain, however, recalled him to his senses; he rolled the handkerchief
+over the wound, twisted his own round it too, for the red stain came
+through Pauline&rsquo;s cambric, and departed.&nbsp; The account current
+in the college was, that he had torn himself against a nail in a fence.&nbsp;
+The accident was a little inconvenient on the following Sunday, when
+he had to preach at Hogsbridge Corner; but as he reproduced the sermon
+on the carnal mind, which he knew pretty well by heart, he was not nervous.&nbsp;
+He had made it much simpler, in accordance with the advice given on
+a former occasion.&nbsp; He had struck out the metaphysics and had put
+in a new head - &ldquo;Neither indeed <i>can</i> be.&rdquo;&nbsp; &ldquo;The
+apostle did not merely state a fact that the carnal mind was not subject
+to the law of God; he said, &lsquo;Neither indeed <i>can</i> be.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+Mark, my brethren, the force of the neither can.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI - THE WISDOM OF THE SERPENT</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>George Allen meanwhile, at Cowfold, languished in love with Priscilla
+Broad, who was now a comely girl of eighteen.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad had,
+of course, discovered what was in the wind, and her pride suffered a
+severe shock.&nbsp; She had destined Priscilla, as the daughter of a
+Flavel, for a London minister, and that she should marry a tradesman
+was intolerable.&nbsp; Worse still, a tradesman in Cowfold!&nbsp; What
+would become of their influence in the town, she continually argued
+with Mr. Broad, if they became connected with a member of their congregation?&nbsp;
+She thought it would be a serious hindrance to their usefulness.&nbsp;
+But Mr. Broad was not so sure, although he hated the Allens; and Priscilla,
+somehow or other, was not so sure, for, despite her mother&rsquo;s constant
+hints about their vulgarity, she not infrequently discovered that something
+was wanted from the shop, and bought it herself.</p>
+<p>One Monday afternoon, Mr. Broad having thrown the silk handkerchief
+off his face and bestirred himself at the sight of the radishes, water-cresses,
+tea, and hot buttered toast, thus addressed his wife:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My love, I am not altogether inclined to discountenance the
+attentions which George pays to Priscilla.&nbsp; There are so many circumstances
+to be taken into account.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is a great trouble to me, John, and I really think if anything
+of the kind were to happen, at least you would have to seek another
+cause.&nbsp; Just consider the position in which I should stand towards
+Mrs. Allen.&nbsp; Besides, I am sure it will interfere with your duties
+here if we are obliged to take notice of the Allens more than of other
+people in the town.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;To seek for another cause, my love?&nbsp; That is a very grave
+matter at my time of life.&nbsp; You remember too, that there is an
+endowment here.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Quite so; and that is the more reason why we should not permit
+the attachment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But, my love, as I observed, there are so many circumstances
+to be taken into account.&nbsp; You know as well as I do in what aspect
+I view the Allens, and what my sentiments with regard to them are -
+personally that is to say, and not as minister of the gospel.&nbsp;
+Perhaps Providence, my dear, intends this opportunity as a means whereby
+the emotions of my poor sinful nature - emotions which may have been
+uncharitable - may be converted into brotherly love.&nbsp; Then we must
+recollect that Isaac is a prominent member of the church and a deacon.&nbsp;
+Thirdly, in all probability, if we do not permit Priscilla to marry
+George, offence will be taken and they may withdraw their subscription,
+which, I believe, comes altogether to twenty pounds per annum.&nbsp;
+Fourthly, the Allens have been blessed with an unusual share of worldly
+prosperity, and George is about to become a partner.&nbsp; Fifthly and
+lastly&rdquo; - Mr. Broad had acquired a habit of dividing his most
+ordinary conversation into heads - &ldquo;it is by no means improbable
+that I may need a co-pastor before long, and we shall secure the Allens&rsquo;
+powerful influence in favour of Thomas.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Broad felt the full force of these arguments.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should think,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;that George, after
+marriage, cannot live at the shop.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, that will not be possible; they must take a private house.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So it was agreed, without any reference to the question whether Priscilla
+and George cared for one another, that no opposition should be offered.&nbsp;
+The Allens themselves, father and mother, were by no means so eager
+for the honour of the match as Mrs. Broad supposed them to be, for Mrs.
+Isaac, particularly proud of her husband, and a little proud of their
+comfortable business and their comfortable property, was not dazzled
+by the Flavel ancestry.</p>
+<p>When George formally asked permission of Mr. Broad to sanction his
+addresses, a meeting between the parents became necessary, and Mrs.
+Broad called on Mrs. Allen.&nbsp; She was asked into the dining-room
+at the back of the shop.&nbsp; At that time, at any rate in Cowfold,
+the drawing-room, which was upstairs, was an inaccessible sanctuary,
+save on Sunday and on high tea-party days.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad looked round
+at the solid mahogany furniture; cast her eyes on the port and sherry
+standing on the sideboard, in accordance with Cowfold custom; observed
+that not a single thing in the room was worn or shabby; that everything
+was dusted with absolute nicety, for the Allen&rsquo;s kept two servants;
+and became a little reconciled to her lot.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Allen presently appeared in her black silk dress, with her gold
+watch hanging in front, and saluted the minister&rsquo;s wife with the
+usual good-humoured, slightly democratic freedom which always annoyed
+Mrs. Broad.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear Mrs. Allen,&rdquo; began Mrs. Broad, &ldquo;I have
+called to announce to you a surprising piece of intelligence, although
+I dare say you know it all.&nbsp; Your son George has asked Mr. Broad
+to be allowed to consider himself as Priscilla&rsquo;s suitor.&nbsp;
+We have discussed the matter together, and I have come to know what
+your views are.&nbsp; I may say that we had destined - hoped - that
+- er - Priscilla would find her sphere as a minister&rsquo;s wife in
+the metropolis; but it is best, perhaps, to follow the leadings of Providence.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, Mrs. Broad, I must say I was a little bit disappointed
+myself - to tell you the plain truth; but it is of no use to contradict
+young people in love with one another.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Broad was astonished.&nbsp; Disappointed!&nbsp; But she remembered
+her husband&rsquo;s admonitions.&nbsp; So she contented herself with
+an insinuation.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What I meant, my dear Mrs. Allen, was that, as the Flavels
+have been a ministerial family for so long, it would have been gratifying
+to me, of course, if Priscilla had bestowed herself upon - upon somebody
+occupying the same position.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That is just what my mother used to say.&nbsp; I was a Burton,
+you remember.&nbsp; They were large tanners in Northamptonshire, and
+she did not like my going to a shop.&nbsp; But you know, Mrs. Broad,
+you had better be in a shop and have plenty of everything, and not have
+to pinch and screw, than have a brass knocker on your door, and not
+be able to pay for the clothes you wear.&nbsp; That&rsquo;s my belief,
+at any rate.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The dart entered Mrs. Broad&rsquo;s soul.&nbsp; She remembered some
+&ldquo;procrastination&rdquo; - to use her husband&rsquo;s favourite
+word - in settling a draper&rsquo;s bill, even when it was diminished
+by the pew rent, and she wondered if Mrs. Allen knew the facts.&nbsp;
+Of course she did; all Cowfold knew every fact connected with everybody
+in the town.&nbsp; She discerned it was best to retreat.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wished to tell you, Mrs. Allen, that we do not intend to
+offer the least objection&rdquo; - she thought that perhaps a little
+professional unction might reduce her antagonist - &ldquo;and I am sure
+I pray that God will bless their union.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;As I said before, Mrs. Broad, neither shall we object.&nbsp;
+We shall let George do as he likes.&nbsp; He is a real good boy, worth
+a princess, and if he chooses to have Miss Broad, we shan&rsquo;t hinder
+him.&nbsp; She will always be welcome here, and it will be a consolation
+to you to know she will never want anything.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mrs. Allen
+shook her silk dress out a little, and offered Mrs. Broad a glass of
+wine.&nbsp; Her feelings were a little flustered, and she needed support,
+but she refused.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No thank you, Mrs. Allen.&nbsp; I must be going.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII - THE ORACLE WARNS - AFTER THE EVENT</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>It is no part of my business to tell the story of the love-making
+between George and Priscilla.&nbsp; Such stories have been told too
+often.&nbsp; Every weakness in her was translated by George into some
+particularly attractive virtue.&nbsp; He saw nothing, heard nothing,
+which was not to her advantage.&nbsp; Once, indeed, when he was writing
+the letter that was for ever to decide his destiny, it crossed his mind
+that this was an epoch - a parting of the ways - and he hesitated as
+he folded it up.&nbsp; But no warning voice was heard; nothing smote
+him; he was doing what he believed to be the best; he was allowed to
+go on without a single remonstrant sign.&nbsp; The messenger was despatched,
+and his fate was sealed.&nbsp; His mother and father had held anxious
+debate.&nbsp; They believed Priscilla to be silly, and the question
+was whether they should tell George so.&nbsp; The more they reflected
+on the affair the less they liked it; but it was agreed that they could
+do nothing, and that to dissuade their son would only embitter him against
+them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; said Mrs. Allen, &ldquo;when she has a family
+she will be better.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mrs. Allen had a belief that children cured a woman of many follies.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless the mother could not refrain, when she had to talk to
+George about his engagement, from &ldquo;letting out&rdquo; just a word.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope you will be happy, my dear boy.&nbsp; The great thing
+is not to have a fool for a wife.&nbsp; There has never, to my knowledge,
+been a woman amongst the Burtons or the Allens who was a fool.</p>
+<p>George felt nothing at the time, for he suspected nothing; but the
+words somehow remained with him, and reappeared later on in black intensity
+like invisible writing under heat.</p>
+<p>So they were married, and went to live in a cottage, small, but very
+respectable, in the Shott Road.&nbsp; For the first six months both
+were in bliss.&nbsp; Priscilla was constantly backwards and forwards
+to her mother, who took upon herself at once the whole direction of
+her affairs; but there was no rupture with the Allens, for, whatever
+her other faults might be, Priscilla was not given to making quarrels,
+and there was little or no bitterness or evil temper in her.&nbsp; George
+came home after his work was over at the shop, and sometimes went out
+to supper with his wife, or read to her the newspaper, which came once
+a week.&nbsp; Like his father, he was an ardent politician, and, from
+the very beginning of the struggle, an enthusiastic Free Trader.&nbsp;
+The Free Trade creed was, indeed, the cause of serious embarrassment,
+for not only were the customers agricultural and Protectionist, but
+the deacons at Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, being nearly all either farmers
+or connected with the land, were also Protectionist, and Mr. Broad had
+a hard time of it.&nbsp; For himself, he expressed no opinion; but once,
+at a deacons&rsquo; meeting, when it looked as if some controversy would
+arise, he begged Brother Allen to remember that, though we might be
+wise as serpents, we were also commanded to be harmless as doves.&nbsp;
+There was a small charity connected with the chapel, which was distributed,
+not in money, but in bread, and Brother Allen, not being able to contain
+himself, had let fall a word or two about the price of bread which would
+have raised a storm if Mr. Broad had not poured on the troubled waters
+that oil of which he was a perfect reservoir.</p>
+<p>George did his best to instruct his wife in the merits of the controversy,
+and when he found anything in his newspaper read it aloud to her.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You see, Priscilla,&rdquo; he said one evening, &ldquo;it
+stands to reason that if foreign corn pays a duty, the price of every
+quarter grown here is raised, and this increased price goes into the
+farmer&rsquo;s or landlord&rsquo;s pocket: Why should I, or why should
+my men, pay twopence more for every loaf to buy Miss Wootton a piano?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really, George, do you mean to say that they are going to
+buy Miss Wootton a piano?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear, I said that when they buy a loaf of bread twopence
+out of it goes to buy Miss Wootton&rsquo;s piano!&rdquo; repeated George,
+laying an emphasis on every word.&nbsp; &ldquo;I did not mean, of course,
+that they put their twopences in her pocket.&nbsp; The point is, that
+the duty enables Wootton to get more for his corn.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Priscilla triumphantly, &ldquo;I can tell
+you she is <i>not</i> going to have a piano.&nbsp; She&rsquo;s going
+to have a little organ instead, because she can play tunes better on
+an organ, and it&rsquo;s more suitable for her; so there&rsquo;s an
+end of that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter whether it is an organ or piano,&rdquo;
+said George, &ldquo;the principle is the same.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, but you said a piano; I don&rsquo;t think the principle
+is the same.&nbsp; If I were she I would sooner have the piano.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>A shade of perplexed trouble crossed George&rsquo;s face, and some
+creases appeared in his forehead; but he smoothed them away and laid
+down his paper.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Priscilla, put away your work for a moment and just listen.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Priscilla was making something in the shape of netting by means of
+pins and a long loop which was fastened under her foot.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can listen, George; there is no occasion to put it away.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well then,&rdquo; he answered, placing both his elbows on
+the table, and resting his face upon them, &ldquo;all corn which comes
+into this country pays a duty - that you understand.&nbsp; Consequently
+it cannot be sold here for less than sixty shillings a quarter.&nbsp;
+Of course, if that is the case, English wheat is kept up to a higher
+price than it would fetch it there was no duty.&nbsp; Therefore bread
+is, as I calculate, about twopence a loaf dearer than it ought to be.&nbsp;
+And why should it be?&nbsp; That&rsquo;s what I want to know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; said Priscilla, &ldquo;we might save a good
+bit by baking at home.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, yes; but never mind that now.&nbsp; You know that foreign
+corn pays a duty.&nbsp; You do know that?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Priscilla, because there was nothing else
+to be said.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, then, you must see that, if that be so, farmers can
+obtain a higher price for English corn.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Poor Priscilla really did her best to comprehend.&nbsp; She stopped
+her knitting for a moment, put her knitting-pin to her lips, and answered
+very slowly and solemnly &ldquo;Ye-es.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah; but I know when you say &lsquo;Ye-es&rsquo; like that
+you do not understand.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I do understand,&rdquo; she retorted, with a little asperity.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well then, repeat it, and let us see.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, I shall not.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Dear Priscilla, I am not vexed: but I only wanted to make
+it quite plain to you.&nbsp; The duty on foreign corn is a tax in favour
+of the farmer, or perhaps the landlord, just as distinctly as if the
+tax-collector carried the coin from our till and gave it them.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course it is quite plain,&rdquo; she responded, making
+a bold stroke for her life.&nbsp; &ldquo;Of course it is quite plain
+we are taxed&rdquo; - George&rsquo;s face grew bright, for he thought
+the truth had dawned upon her - &ldquo;because the farmers have to pay
+the duty on foreign corn.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He took up his newspaper, held it open so as to cover his face, was
+silent for a few minutes, and then, pulling out his watch, declared
+it was time to go to bed.&nbsp; She gathered up her netting, looked
+at him doubtfully as she passed, and went upstairs.</p>
+<p>The roof of George&rsquo;s house had a kind of depression or well
+in the middle of it, whence ran a rainwater pipe, which passed down
+inside, and so, under the floor, to the soft-water cistern.&nbsp; A
+bad piece of construction, thought he, and he wished, if he could have
+done so, to improve it; but there was no way of altering it without
+pulling the whole place to pieces.&nbsp; One day, a very short time
+after the talk about Free Trade, a fearful storm of rain broke over
+Cowfold, and he was startled by Ellen, his servant, running into the
+shop and telling him that the staircase was flooded, and missis wanted
+him at once.&nbsp; He put on his coat and was off in a moment.&nbsp;
+When he got there Priscilla met him at the door crying, and in a great
+fright.&nbsp; The well up aloft was full of water, and it was pouring
+in torrents through the little window.&nbsp; It had gone through the
+floor of the bedroom and into the dining-room, pulling down with it
+about half the ceiling, which lay in a horrid mess upon the dining table
+and the carpet, George saw in an instant what was the matter.&nbsp;
+He ran up the steps to the well, pulled out a quantity of straw and
+dirt which blocked up the entrance to the pipe; the water disappeared
+in two minutes, and all further danger was arrested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why on earth,&rdquo; he cried in half a passion, &ldquo;did
+not you think to clear away the rubbish, instead of wasting your time
+in sending for me?&nbsp; It ought to have entered into anybody&rsquo;s
+head to do such a simple thing as that.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How was I to know?&rdquo; replied Mrs. George.&nbsp; &ldquo;I
+am not an ironmonger.&nbsp; What have I to do with pipes?&nbsp; You
+shouldn&rsquo;t have had such a thing.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Ellen stood looking at the wreck.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want you;&rdquo; said George savagely; &ldquo;go
+into the kitchen,&rdquo; and he shut the dining-room door.&nbsp; There
+the husband and wife stood face to face with one another, with the drip,
+drip, drip still proceeding, the ruined plaster, and the spoilt furniture.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care,&rdquo; he broke out, &ldquo;one brass
+farthing for it all; but what I do care for is that you should not have
+had the sense to unstop that pipe.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She said nothing, but cried bitterly.&nbsp; At last she sat down
+and sobbed out: &ldquo;O George, George, you are in a rage with me;
+you are tired of me; you are disappointed with me.&nbsp; Oh! what shall
+I do, what <i>shall</i> I do?&rdquo;&nbsp; Poor child! her pretty curls
+fell over her face as she covered it with her long white hands.&nbsp;
+George was touched with pity in an instant, and his arms were round
+her neck.&nbsp; He kissed her fervently, and besought her not to think
+anything of what he had said.&nbsp; He took out his handkerchief, wiped
+her eyes tenderly, lifted one of her arms and put it round his neck
+as he pulled a chair towards him and sat down beside her.&nbsp; Nothing
+she loved like caresses!&nbsp; She knew what <i>their</i> import was,
+though she could not follow his economical logic, and she clung to him,
+and buried her face on his shoulder.&nbsp; At that moment, as he drew
+her heavy brown tresses over him, smothered his eyes and mouth in them,
+and then looked down through them on the white, sweet beauty they shadowed,
+he forgot or overlooked everything, and was once more completely happy.</p>
+<p>Suddenly she released herself.&nbsp; &ldquo;What shall we do to-night,
+George, the bedroom will be so damp?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He recovered himself, and admitted that they could not sleep there.&nbsp;
+There was the spare bedroom; but the wet had come in there too.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I will sleep at father&rsquo;s, and you sleep at home too.&nbsp;
+We will have fires alight, and we shall be dry enough to-morrow.&nbsp;
+You be off now, my dear; I will see about it all.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So George had the fires alight, got in a man to help him, and they
+swept and scoured and aired till it was dark.&nbsp; In a day or two
+the plasterer could mend the ceiling.</p>
+<p>Priscilla had left, and, excepting the servant, who was upstairs,
+George was alone.&nbsp; He looked round, walked about - what was it?&nbsp;
+Was he tired?&nbsp; It could not be that; he was never tired.&nbsp;
+He left as soon as he could and went back to the shop.&nbsp; After telling
+the tale of the calamity which had befallen him he announced - it was
+now supper-time - that he was going to stay all night.&nbsp; Mother,
+father, and sister were delighted to have him - &ldquo;It looked like
+old times again;&rdquo; but George was not in much of a mood for talking,
+and at ten o&rsquo;clock went upstairs; his early departure being, of
+course, set down to the worry he had gone through.&nbsp; He turned into
+bed.&nbsp; Generally speaking he thought no more of sleep than he did
+of breathing; it came as naturally as the air into his lungs; but what
+was this new experience?&nbsp; Half an hour, an hour, after he had laid
+down he was still awake, and worse than awake; for his thoughts were
+of a different cast from his waking thoughts; fearful forebodings; a
+horror of great darkness.&nbsp; He rose and bathed his head in cold
+water, and lay down again; but it was of no use, and he walked about
+his room.&nbsp; What an epoch is the first sleepless night - the night
+when the first wrench has been given us by the Destinies to loosen us
+from the love of life; when we have first said to ourselves that there
+are worse things than death!</p>
+<p>George&rsquo;s father always slept well, but the mother stirred at
+the slightest sound.&nbsp; She heard her boy on the other side of the
+wall pacing to and fro, and she slipped out of bed, put on her dressing-gown,
+and went to listen.&nbsp; Presently she knocked gently.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;George, my dear, aren&rsquo;t you well?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, mother; nothing the matter.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Let me in.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He let her in, and sat down.&nbsp; The moon shone brightly, and there
+was no need for any other light.</p>
+<p>The mother came and sat beside her child.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;George, my dear, there is something on you mind?&nbsp; What
+is it? - tell me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing, mother; nothing indeed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>She answered by taking his cold hand in both her own and putting
+it on her lap.&nbsp; Presently he disengaged himself and went to the
+window.&nbsp; She sat still for a moment, and followed him.&nbsp; She
+looked up in his face; the moonlight was full upon it; there was no
+moisture in his eyes, but his lips quivered.&nbsp; She led him away,
+and got him to sit down again, taking his hand as before, but speaking
+no word.&nbsp; Suddenly, without warning, his head was on his mother&rsquo;s
+bosom, and he was weeping as if his heart would break.&nbsp; Another
+first experience to him and to her; the first time he had ever wept
+since he was a child and cried over a fall or because it was dark.&nbsp;
+She supported that heavy head with the arm which had carried him before
+he could walk alone; she kissed him, and her tears flowed with his;
+but still she was silent.&nbsp; There was no reason why she should make
+further inquiry; she knew it all.&nbsp; By themselves there they remained
+till he became a little calmer, and then he begged her to leave him.&nbsp;
+She wished to stay, but he would not permit it, and she withdrew.&nbsp;
+When she reached her bedroom her husband was still asleep, and although
+she feared to wake him, she could no longer contain herself, and falling
+on her knees with her face in the bedclothes, so that she might not
+be heard, she cried to her Maker to have mercy on her child.&nbsp; She
+was not a woman much given to religious exercises, but she prayed that
+night such a prayer as had not been prayed in Tanner&rsquo;s Lane since
+its foundation was laid.&nbsp; For this cause shall a man leave father
+and mother and cleave to his wife?&nbsp; Ah, yes! he does leave them;
+but in his heart does he never go back?&nbsp; And if he never does,
+does his mother ever leave him?</p>
+<p>In the morning Mrs. Allen was a little pale, and was asked by her
+husband if she was unwell, but she held her peace.&nbsp; George, too,
+rose, went about his work, and in the afternoon walked up to the cottage
+to meet his wife there.&nbsp; She was bright and smiling, and had a
+thousand things to tell him about what her mamma said, and how mamma
+hoped that the nasty pipe would be altered and never ought to have been
+there; and how she was coming after tea to talk to him, and how she
+herself, Priscilla, had got a plan.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; said George.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, I would put a grating, or something, over the pipe, so
+that it shouldn&rsquo;t get stopped up.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But if the grating got stopped up that would be just as bad.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well then, I wouldn&rsquo;t have a well there at all.&nbsp;
+Why don&rsquo;t you cover it over?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&lsquo;&ldquo;But what are you to do with the window?&nbsp; You cannot
+block out the light.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>So Priscilla&rsquo;s &ldquo;plans,&rdquo; as she called them, were
+nothing.&nbsp; And though George had a plan which he thought might answer,
+he did not consult her about it.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII - FURTHER DEVELOPMENT</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Six months afterwards Priscilla was about to give birth to her first-born.&nbsp;
+At Mrs. Allen&rsquo;s earnest request old nurse Barton had been engaged,
+who nursed Mrs. Allen when George came into the world, and loved him
+like her own child.&nbsp; As a counterpoise, Mrs. Broad, who had desired
+a nurse from a distance, whom she knew, installed herself with Priscilla.&nbsp;
+Nurse Barton had a great dislike to Mrs. Broad, although she attended
+Mr. Broad&rsquo;s ministrations at Tanner&rsquo;s Lane.&nbsp; She was
+not a member of the church, and never could be got to propose herself
+for membership.&nbsp; There was, in fact, a slight flavour of Paganism
+about her.&nbsp; She was considered to belong to the &ldquo;world,&rdquo;
+and it was only her age and undoubted skill which saved her practice
+amongst the Tanner&rsquo;s Lane ladies.&nbsp; There was a rival in the
+town; but she was a younger woman, and never went out to any of the
+respectable houses, save when Mrs. Barton was not available.</p>
+<p>The child was safely born, and as soon as nurse Barton could be spared
+for an hour or two she went to Mrs. Allen, whom she found alone.&nbsp;
+The good woman then gave Mrs. Allen her opinions, which, by the way,
+she always gave with prefect frankness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Thank the Lord-i-mercy this &rsquo;ere job, Mrs. Allen, is
+near at an end.&nbsp; If it &rsquo;adn&rsquo;t been my dear boy George&rsquo;s
+wife, never would I have set foot in that &rsquo;ouse.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why not?&nbsp; Now, Mrs. Allen, you know as well as I do.&nbsp;
+To see that there Mrs. Broad!&nbsp; She might &rsquo;ave ordered me
+about; that wouldn&rsquo;t a been nothin&rsquo;; but to see &rsquo;er
+a orderin&rsquo; &rsquo;<i>im</i>, and a ridin&rsquo; on &rsquo;im like
+a wooden rockin&rsquo;-&rsquo;orse, and with no more feelin&rsquo;!&nbsp;
+A nasty, prancin&rsquo;, &rsquo;igh-&rsquo;eaded creatur&rsquo;.&nbsp;
+Thinks I to myself, often and often, if things was different I&rsquo;d
+let yer know, that I would; but I &rsquo;eld my tong.&nbsp; It &rsquo;ud
+a been wuss for us all, p&rsquo;r&rsquo;aps, if I &rsquo;adn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I should think so,&rdquo; said Mrs. Allen; &ldquo;remember
+she is the minister&rsquo;s wife.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Minister&rsquo;s wife!&rdquo; repeated Mrs. Barton, and with
+much scorn.&nbsp; &ldquo;And then them children of hern.&nbsp; Lord
+be praised I never brought such things as them into the world.&nbsp;
+That was her fine nuss as she must get down from London; and pretty
+creaturs they are!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hush, hush; George has one of them, and she is mine.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t &rsquo;elp it, ma&rsquo;am, I must speak out.&nbsp;
+I say as he ought to &rsquo;ave married somebody better nor &rsquo;er;
+though I don&rsquo;t mind a tellin&rsquo; of yer she&rsquo;s the best
+of the lot.&nbsp; Why did the Lord in heaven, as sent Jesus Christ to
+die for our souls, let my George &rsquo;ave such a woman as that?&nbsp;
+What poor silly creaturs we all are!&rdquo; and the old woman, bending
+her head down, shook it mournfully and rubbed her knees with her hand.&nbsp;
+She was thinking of him as he lay in her lap years and years ago, and
+pondering, in her disconnected, incoherent way, over the mysteries which
+are mysteries to us as much as to her.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Broad, who was in constant attendance upon Priscilla, at the
+very earliest moment pronounced the baby a Flavel, and made haste to
+tell father and mother so.&nbsp; There was no mistaking a refinement,
+so to say, in the features and an expression in the eye.&nbsp; George,
+of course, was nearly banished for a time, and was much with his father
+and mother.&nbsp; At length, however, the hour arrived when the nurse
+took her departure, and, Mrs. Broad having also somewhat retired, he
+began to see a little more of his wife; but it was very little.&nbsp;
+She was altogether shut up in maternal cares - closed round, apparently,
+from the whole world.&nbsp; He was not altogether displeased, but he
+did at times think that she might give him a moment now and then, especially
+as he was greatly interested in the coming county election.&nbsp; It
+was rather too early in the day for a Free Trader to stand as a candidate,
+but two Whigs, of whom they had great hopes, had been put up, and both
+George and his father were most energetic in canvassing and on committees.</p>
+<p>Mr. Broad had decided not to vote.&nbsp; He did not deny that his
+sympathies were not with the Tories, but as a minister of religion it
+would be better for him to remain neutral.&nbsp; This annoyed the Allens
+and damaged their cause.&nbsp; At a meeting held by the Tories one of
+the speakers called upon the audience to observe that all the respectable
+people, with very few exceptions, were on their side.&nbsp; &ldquo;Why,&rdquo;
+cried he, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll bet you, my friends, all Lombard Street
+to a china orange that they don&rsquo;t get even the Dissenting parson
+to vote for the Radicals.&nbsp; Of course he won&rsquo;t, and why?&nbsp;
+Just because he&rsquo;s a cut above his congregation, and knows a little
+more than they do, and belongs to the intelligent classes.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>George bethought himself that perhaps he might do something through
+Priscilla to influence her mother, and he determined to speak to her
+about it.&nbsp; He came home one evening after attending a committee,
+and found supper ready.&nbsp; Priscilla was downstairs, sitting with
+the door open.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Hadn&rsquo;t we better shut the door?&rdquo; said George;
+&ldquo;it is rather cold.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, no, George; I shouldn&rsquo;t hear the baby.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But Ellen is upstairs.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes; but then she might go to sleep.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; began George, &ldquo;I wish your father could
+be got to vote straight.&nbsp; You see that by not doing so he goes
+against all the principles of the Independents.&nbsp; Ever since they
+have been in existence they have always stood up for freedom, and we
+are having the large yellow flag worked with the words, Civil and Religious
+Liberty.&nbsp; It will be a bad thing for us if he holds aloof.&nbsp;
+I cannot understand,&rdquo; he continued, getting eloquent, &ldquo;how
+a Dissenting minister can make up his mind not to vote against a party
+which has been answerable for all the oppression and all the wrongs
+in English history, and for all our useless wars, and actually persecuted
+his predecessors in this very meeting-house in which he now preaches.&nbsp;
+Besides, to say nothing about the past, just look at what we have before
+us now.&nbsp; The Tories are the most bitter opponents of Free Trade.&nbsp;
+I can&rsquo;t tell you how I feel about it, and I do think that if you
+were to speak to your mother she would perhaps induce him to change
+his mind.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was a long time since he had said so much all at once to his wife.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;George, George, I am sure he&rsquo;s awake!&rdquo; and she
+was off out of the room in an instant.&nbsp; Presently she returned.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mamma came here this afternoon and brought his hood - a new
+one - such a lovely hood! - and she says he looks more than ever like
+a Flavel in it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe you listened to a word of what I was
+saying.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I did; you always think I don&rsquo;t listen; but
+I can listen to you and watch for him too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What did I say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Never mind, I know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I cannot understand,&rdquo; he said sullenly, and diverted
+for a moment from his subject, &ldquo;why mamma should be always telling
+<i>you</i> he is a Flavel.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, really, George, why shouldn&rsquo;t she?&nbsp; Tryphosa
+said the other day that if you were to take away grandpapa Flavel&rsquo;s
+wig and bands from the picture in the <i>Evangelical Magazine</i> he
+would be just like him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It seems to me,&rdquo; replied George, &ldquo;that if there&rsquo;s
+any nonsense going about the town, it always comes to you.&nbsp; People
+don&rsquo;t talk such rubbish to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>What the effect of this speech might have been cannot be told, for
+at this moment the baby did really cry, and Priscilla departed hastily
+for the night.&nbsp; She never spoke to her mother about the election,
+for, as George suspected, she had not paid the slightest attention to
+him; and as to exchanging with her mother a single word upon such a
+subject as politics, or upon any other subject which was in any way
+impersonal, - she never did such a thing in her life.</p>
+<p>It was the uniform practice of the Reverend John Broad to walk down
+the main Street of Cowfold on Monday morning, and to interchange a few
+words with any of his congregation whom he might happen to meet.&nbsp;
+This pastoral perambulation not only added importance to him, and made
+him a figure in Cowfold, but, coming always on Monday, served to give
+people some notion of a preoccupation during the other days of the week
+which was forbidden, for mental reasons, on the day after Sunday.&nbsp;
+On this particular Monday Mr. Broad was passing Mr. Allen&rsquo;s shop,
+and seeing father and son there, went in.&nbsp; Mr. Allen himself was
+at a desk which stood near the window, and George was at the counter,
+in a black apron, weighing nails.</p>
+<p>After an unimportant remark or two about the weather, Mr. Allen began
+in a cheery tone, so as to prevent offence:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Broad, we are sorry we cannot persuade you to vote for
+the good cause.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Broad&rsquo;s large mouth lengthened itself, and his little eyes
+had an unpleasant light in them.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Brother Allen, I have made this matter the subject of much
+meditation, and I may even say of prayer, and I have come to the conclusion
+it will be better for me to occupy a neutral position.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, Mr. Broad?&nbsp; You cannot doubt on which side the right
+lies.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No; but then there are so many things to be considered, so
+many responsibilities, and my first care, you see, must be the ministerial
+office and the church which Providence has placed in my charge.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But, Mr. Broad, there are only two or three of them who are
+Tory.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Only old Bushel and another farmer or two,&rdquo; interrupted
+George.</p>
+<p>Mr. Broad looked severely at George, but did not condescend to answer
+him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Those two or three, Brother Allen, require consideration as
+much as ourselves.&nbsp; Brother Bushel is, I may say, a pillar of the
+cause, a most faithful follower of the Lord; and what are political
+questions compared with that?&nbsp; How could I justify myself if my
+liberty were to become a stumbling-block to my brother.&nbsp; The house
+of God without Brother Bushel to give out the hymns on Sunday would,
+I am sure, not be the same house of God to any of us.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But, Mr. Broad, do you think he will be so silly as to be
+offended because you exercise the same right which he claims for himself?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah, Brother Allen - offended!&nbsp; You remember, no doubt,
+the text, &lsquo;Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will
+eat no flesh while the world standeth.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It is a very good thing to have at one&rsquo;s elbow a Bible of rules
+for our guidance; but unfortunately we relieve ourselves very often
+of the most necessary inquiry whether the rule applies to the particular
+case in hand.&nbsp; Mr. Allen had the greatest possible respect for
+St. Paul, but he felt sure the apostle was where he had no business
+to be just at that particular moment.&nbsp; George also saw the irrelevance
+of the quotation, and discerned exactly where it did not fit.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Broad, I am sure I don&rsquo;t pretend to know what St.
+Paul thought as well as you do - of course not - but do you think that
+voting is like eating meat?&nbsp; Is it not a duty to express our convictions
+on such questions as those now before the country?&nbsp; It didn&rsquo;t
+much matter whether a man ate meat which had been offered to an idol
+or not, but it does matter how we are governed.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Broad turned round on George, and smiled with a smile which was
+certainly not a sign of affection, but otherwise did not notice him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, Mr. Broad,&rdquo; continued Mr. Allen, &ldquo;all I
+can say is, I regret it; and I am sure you will excuse me if I also
+say that we too deserve some consideration.&nbsp; You forget that your
+refusal to declare yourself may be stumbling-block to <i>us</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I hope not, I hope not.&nbsp; George, how is Priscilla, and
+how is her child?&nbsp; Are they both quite well?&rdquo; and with a
+pontifical benediction the minister moved away.&nbsp; When he got home
+he consulted the oracle; not on his knees, but sitting in his arm-chair;
+that is to say, Mrs. Broad at the Monday afternoon tea, and she relieved
+his anxiety.&nbsp; There was no fear of any secession on the part of
+the Allens, connected as they were with them through Priscilla.&nbsp;
+On the other hand, Brother Bushel, although he gave out the hymns, had
+already had a quarrel with the singing pew because they would not more
+frequently perform a tune with a solo for the double bass, which he
+always accompanied with his own bass voice, and Mr. Broad had found
+it difficult to restore peace; the flute and clarionet justly urging
+that they never had solos, and why the double bass, who only played
+from ear, and not half as many notes as they played, should be allowed
+to show off they didn&rsquo;t know.&nbsp; Mr. Bushel, too, contributed
+ten pounds a year to the cause, and Piddingfold Green Chapel was but
+a mile farther off from him than Cowfold.&nbsp; There were allies of
+the Allens in Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, no doubt; but none of them would
+be likely to desert so long as the Allens themselves remained.&nbsp;
+Therefore Providence seemed to point out to Mr. and Mrs. Broad that
+their course was clear.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV - &ldquo;I CAME NOT TO SEND PEACE, BUT A SWORD&rdquo;</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Mr. Allen, having business in London, determined to go on Saturday,
+and spend the next day with Zachariah.&nbsp; Although he always called
+on his old friend whenever he could do so, he was not often away from
+home on a Sunday.&nbsp; He also resolved to take George with him.&nbsp;
+Accordingly on Saturday morning they were up early and caught a coach
+on the North Road.&nbsp; The coaches by this time had fallen off considerably,
+for the Birmingham railway was open, and there was even some talk of
+a branch through Cowfold; but there were still perhaps a dozen which
+ran to places a good way east of the line.&nbsp; Father and son dismounted
+at the &ldquo;George and Blue Boar,&rdquo; where they were to sleep.&nbsp;
+Sunday was to be spent with the Colemans, whom George had seen before
+but very seldom; never, indeed, since he was a boy.</p>
+<p>Zachariah still went to Pike Street Chapel, but only in the morning
+to hear Mr. Bradshaw, who was now an old man, and could not preach twice.&nbsp;
+On that particular Sunday on which Zachariah, Pauline, Mr. Allen, and
+George heard him he took for his text the thirteenth verse of the twelfth
+chapter of Deuteronomy: &ldquo;Take heed to thyself that thou offer
+not thy burnt offerings in every place thou seest.&rdquo;&nbsp; He put
+down his spectacles after he had read these words, for he never used
+a note, and said: &ldquo;If your religion doesn&rsquo;t help you, it
+is no religion for you; you had better be without it.&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t
+mean if it doesn&rsquo;t help you to a knowledge of a future life or
+of the way to heaven.&nbsp; Everybody will say his religion does that.&nbsp;
+What I do mean is, that the sign of a true religion - true for <i>you</i>,
+is this - Does it assist you to bear your own private difficulties?
+- does it really? - not the difficulties of the schools and theology,
+but those of the parlour and countinghouse; ay, difficulties most difficult,
+those with persons nearest to you? . . .&nbsp; Everybody ought to have
+his <i>own</i> religion.&nbsp; In one sense we are all disciples of
+Christ, but nevertheless each man has troubles peculiar to himself,
+and it is absurd to expect that any book system will be sufficient for
+each one of us at all points.&nbsp; You must make your own religion,
+and it is only what you make yourself which will be of any use to you.&nbsp;
+Don&rsquo;t be disturbed if you find it is not of much use to other
+persons.&nbsp; Stick to it yourself if it is really your own, a bit
+of yourself.&nbsp; There are, however, in the Book of God universal
+truths, and the wonderful thing about them is, that they are at the
+same time more particularly adapted to you and me and all our innermost
+wants than anything we can discover for ourselves.&nbsp; That is the
+miracle of inspiration.&nbsp; For thousands and thousands of years some
+of the sayings here have comforted those who have well nigh despaired
+in the desert of the world.&nbsp; The wisdom of millions of apostles,
+of heroes, of martyrs, of poor field labourers, of solitary widows,
+of orphans of the destitute, of men driven to their last extremity has
+been the wisdom of this volume - not their own, and yet most truly theirs.
+. . .&nbsp; Here is a word for us this morning: &lsquo;<i>Take heed
+to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place thou
+seest</i>.&rsquo;&nbsp; Ah, what a word it is!&nbsp; You and I are not
+idolaters, and there is no danger of our being so.&nbsp; For you and
+me this is not a warning against idolatry.&nbsp; What is it for us then?&nbsp;
+Reserve yourself; discriminate in your worship.&nbsp; Reserve yourself,
+I say; but what is the implication?&nbsp; What says the next verse?&nbsp;
+&lsquo;<i>In the place which the Lord shall choose</i>;&rsquo; that
+is to say, keep your worship for the Highest.&nbsp; Do not squander
+yourself, but, on the other hand, before the shrine of the Lord offer
+all your love and adoration.&nbsp; What a practical application this
+has! . . I desire to come a little closer to you.&nbsp; What are the
+consequences of not obeying this Divine law?&nbsp; You will not be struck
+dead nor excommunicated, you will be simply <i>disappointed</i>.&nbsp;
+Your burnt offering will receive no answer; you will not be blessed
+through it; you will come to see that you have been pouring forth your
+treasure, and something worse, your heart&rsquo;s blood - not the blood
+of cattle - before that which is no God - a nothing, in fact.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Vanity of vanities,&rsquo; you will cry, &lsquo;all is vanity.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+My young friends, young men and young women, you are particularly prone
+to go wrong in this matter.&nbsp; You not only lay your possessions
+but yourselves on altars by the roadside.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was the first time George had ever heard anything from any public
+speaker which came home to him, and he wondered if Mr. Bradshaw knew
+his history.&nbsp; He interpreted the discourse after his own way, and
+Priscilla was ever before him.</p>
+<p>They came back to the little house, and sat down to dinner in the
+little front room.&nbsp; There were portraits on the walls - nothing
+else but portraits - and the collection at first sight was inconsistent.&nbsp;
+Major Cartwright was still there; there were also Byron, Bunyan, Scott,
+Paine, Burns, Mr. Bradshaw, and Rousseau.&nbsp; It was closely expressive
+of its owners.&nbsp; Zachariah and Pauline were private persons; they
+were, happily for them, committed to nothing, and were not subsidised
+by their reputations to defend a system.&nbsp; They were consequently
+free to think at large, and if they admired both Bunyan and Rousseau,
+they were at liberty to do so.&nbsp; Zachariah, in a measure, and a
+very large measure, had remained faithful to his earliest beliefs -
+who is there that does not? - and although they had been modified, they
+were still there; and he listened to Mr. Bradshaw with the faith of
+thirty years ago.&nbsp; He also believed in a good many things he had
+learned without him, and perhaps the old and the new were not so discordant
+as at first sight they might have seemed to be.&nbsp; He was not, in
+fact, despite all his love of logic, the &ldquo;yes <i>or</i> no&rdquo;
+from which most people cannot escape, but a &ldquo;yes <i>and</i> no&rdquo;;
+not immorally and through lack of resolution, but by reason of an original
+receptivity and the circumstances of his training.&nbsp; If he had been
+merely a student the case would have been different but he was not a
+student.&nbsp; He was a journeyman printer; and hard work has a tendency
+to demolish the distinctions of dialectics.&nbsp; He had also been to
+school outside his shop, and had learned many lessons, often confusing
+and apparently contradictory.&nbsp; Blanketeer marches; his first wife;
+the workhouse imprisonment; his second wife; the little Pauline had
+each come to him with its own special message, and the net result was
+a character, but a character disappointing to persons who prefer men
+and women of linear magnitude to those of three dimensions.</p>
+<p>After dinner the conversation turned upon politics and Mr. Allen
+described his interview with Mr. Broad, regretting that the movement
+in the district round Cowfold would receive no countenance from the
+minister of the very sect which ought to be its chief support.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;A sad falling off,&rdquo; said Zachariah, &ldquo;from the
+days, even in my time, when the Dissenters were the insurrectionary
+class.&nbsp; Mr. Bradshaw, last Sunday, after his sermon, shut his Bible,
+and told the people that he did not now interfere much in political
+matters; but he felt he should not be doing his duty if he did not tell
+those whom he taught which way they ought to vote, and that what he
+had preached to them for so many years would be poor stuff if it did
+not compel them into a protest against taxing the poor for the sake
+of the rich.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; replied Mr. Allen; &ldquo;but then Broad never
+has taught what Bradshaw teaches; he never seems to me to see anything
+clearly; at least he never makes me see anything clearly; the whole
+world is in a fog to him.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;From what I have heard of Mr. Broad,&rdquo; said Pauline,
+&ldquo;I should think the explanation of him is very simple; he is a
+hypocrite - an ordinary hypocrite.&nbsp; What is the use of going out
+of the way to seek for explanations of such commonplace persons?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Pauline, Pauline,&rdquo; cried Zachariah, &ldquo;you surely
+forget, my child, in whose company you are!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, as for that,&rdquo; said George, &ldquo;Miss Coleman needn&rsquo;t
+mind me.&nbsp; I haven&rsquo;t married Mr. Broad, and my father is quite
+right.&nbsp; For that matter, I believe Miss Coleman is right too.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Mr. Allen, &ldquo;it is rather strong to
+say a man is an ordinary hypocrite, and it is not easy to prove it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Not easy to prove it,&rdquo; said Pauline, shifting a little
+her chair and looking straight at Mr. Allen, with great earnestness;
+&ldquo;hypocrisy is the one thing easiest to prove.&nbsp; I can tell
+whether a man is a hypocrite before I know anything else about him.&nbsp;
+I may not for a long time be able to say what else he may be, but before
+he speaks, almost, I can detect whether he is sincere.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;You women,&rdquo; said Zachariah, with a smile, &ldquo;or
+you girls rather, are so positive.&nbsp; Just as though the world were
+divided like the goats and the sheep in the gospel.&nbsp; That is a
+passage that I never could quite understand.&nbsp; I never, hardly,
+see a pure breed either of goat or sheep.&nbsp; I never see anybody
+who deserves go straight to heaven or who deserves to go straight to
+hell.&nbsp; When the judgment day comes it will be a difficult task.&nbsp;
+Why, Pauline, my dear, I am a humbug myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Ah well, I have heard all that before; but, nevertheless,
+what I say is true.&nbsp; Some men, using speech as God meant men to
+use it, are liars, and some are not.&nbsp; Of course not entirely so,
+nor at all times.&nbsp; We cannot speak mere truth; we are not made
+to speak it.&nbsp; For all that you are not a liar.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Anyhow, I shall go on,&rdquo; said Mr. Allen.&nbsp; &ldquo;We
+shall have a desperate fight, and shall most likely lose; but no Tory
+shall sit for our county if I can help it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Of course you will go on,&rdquo; said Zachariah.&nbsp; &ldquo;So
+shall I go on.&nbsp; We are to have a meeting in Clerkenwell to-morrow
+night, although, to tell you the truth, I don&rsquo;t feel exactly the
+interest in the struggle which I did in those of five-and-twenty years
+ago, when we had to whisper our treasons to one another in locked rooms
+and put sentries at the doors.&nbsp; You know nothing about those times,
+George.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I wish I had,&rdquo; said George, with an unusual passion,
+which surprised his father and caused Pauline to lift her eyes from
+the table and look at him.&nbsp; &ldquo;I only wish I had.&nbsp; I can&rsquo;t
+speak as father can, and I often say to myself I should like to take
+myself off to some foreign country where men get shot for what they
+call conspiracy.&nbsp; If I knew such a country I half believe I would
+go to-morrow.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Which means,&rdquo; said Pauline, &ldquo;that there would
+be an end of you and your services.&nbsp; If you care anything for a
+cause, you can do something better than get shot for it; and if you
+want martyrdom, there is a nobler martyrdom than death.&nbsp; The Christians
+who were trundled in barrels with spikes in them deserve higher honour
+than those who died in a moment, before they could recant.&nbsp; The
+highest form of martyrdom, though, is not even living for the sake of
+a cause, but living without one, merely because it is your duty to live.&nbsp;
+If you are called upon to testify to a great truth, it is easy to sing
+in flames.&nbsp; Yes, yes, Mr. George, the saints whom I would canonise
+are not martyrs for a cause, but those who have none.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>George thought that what Pauline said - just as he had thought of
+Mr. Bradshaw&rsquo;s sermon - seemed to be said for him; and yet what
+did she know about him?&nbsp; Nothing.&nbsp; He was silent.&nbsp; All
+were silent, for it is difficult to follow anybody who pitches the conversation
+at so high a level; and Zachariah, who alone could have maintained it,
+was dreaming over his lost Pauline and gazing on the sacred pictures
+which were hung in the chamber of his heart.&nbsp; Just at that moment
+he was looking at the one of his wife as a girl; the room in which he
+was sitting had gone; he was in the court near Fleet Street; she had
+cleared the space for the dance; she had begun, and he was watching
+her with all the passion of his youth.&nbsp; The conversation gradually
+turned to something more indifferent, and the company broke up.</p>
+<p>On the Monday George and his father went home.&nbsp; It is very depressing,
+after being with people who have been at their best, and with whom we
+have been at our best, to descend upon ordinary existence.&nbsp; George
+felt it particularly as he stood in the shop on Tuesday morning and
+reflected that for the whole of that day - for his father was out -
+he should probably not say nor hear a word for which he cared a single
+straw.&nbsp; But there was to be an election meeting that evening, and
+Mr. Allen was to speak, and George, of course, must be there.&nbsp;
+The evening came, and the room at the Mechanics&rsquo; Institute, which
+had just been established in Cowfold, was crowded.&nbsp; Admission was
+not by ticket, so that, though the Whigs had convened it, there was
+a strong muster of the enemy.&nbsp; Mr. Allen moved the first resolution
+in a stirring speech, which was constitutionally interrupted with appeals
+to him to go home and questions about a grey mare - &ldquo;<i>How about
+old Pinfold&rsquo;s grey mare</i>?&rdquo; - which seemed conclusive
+and humorous to the last degree.&nbsp; Old Pinfold was a well-known
+character in Cowfold, horse-dealer, pig-jobber, attendant at races,
+with no definite occupation, and the grey mare was an animal which he
+managed to impose upon Mr. Allen, who sued him and lost.</p>
+<p>When Mr. Allen&rsquo;s resolution had been duly seconded, one Rogers,
+a publican, got up and said he had something to say.&nbsp; There was
+indescribable confusion, some crying, &ldquo;Turn him out;&rdquo; others
+&ldquo;Pitch into &rsquo;em, Bill.&rdquo;&nbsp; Bill Rogers was well
+known as the funny man in Cowfold, a half-drunken buffoon, whose wit,
+such as it was, was retailed all over the place; a man who was specially
+pleased if he could be present in any assembly collected for any serious
+purpose and turn it into ridicule.&nbsp; He got upon a chair, not far
+from where George sat, but refused to go upon the platform.&nbsp; &ldquo;No,
+thank yer my friends, I&rsquo;m best down here; up there&rsquo;s the
+place for the gentlefolk, the clever uns, them as buy grey mares!&rdquo;
+- (roars of laughter) - &ldquo;but, Mr. Chairman, with your permission&rdquo;
+- and here Bill put his had upon his chest and made a most profound
+bow to the chair, which caused more laughter - &ldquo;there is just
+one question I should like to ask - not about the grey mare, sir&rdquo;
+- (roars of laughter again) - &ldquo;but I see a young gentleman here
+beknown to us all&rdquo; - (points to George) - &ldquo;and I should
+just like to ask him, does his mother-in-law - not his mother, you observe,
+sir - does his mother-in-law know he&rsquo;s out?&rdquo;&nbsp; Once
+more there was an explosion, for Mr. Broad&rsquo;s refusal to take part
+in the contest was generally ascribed to Mrs. Broad.&nbsp; George sat
+still for a moment, hardly realising his position, and then the blood
+rose to his head; up crashed across the forms, and before the grin had
+settled into smoothness on Bill&rsquo;s half-intoxicated features there
+was a grip like that of a giant on his greasy coat collar; he was dragged
+amidst shouts and blows to the door, George nothing heeding, and dismissed
+with such energy that he fell prostrate on the pavement.&nbsp; His friends
+had in vain attempted to stop George&rsquo;s wrathful progress; but
+they were in a minority.</p>
+<p>Next Saturday a report of the scene appeared in the county newspaper,
+giving full particulars, considerably exaggerated; and Mr. Broad read
+all about it to Mrs. Broad on Saturday afternoon, in the interval between
+the preparation of his two sermons.&nbsp; He had heard the story on
+the following day; but here was an authentic account in print.&nbsp;
+Mrs. Broad was of opinion that it was shocking; so vulgar, so low; her
+poor dear Priscilla, and so forth.&nbsp; Mr. Broad&rsquo;s sullen animosity
+was so much stimulated that it had overcome his customary circumspection,
+and on the Sunday evening he preached from the text, &ldquo;Pure religion
+and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless
+and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the
+world.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Broad remarked that the Apostle James made no
+mention here of the scheme of redemption; not because that was not the
+chief part of religion, but because he was considering religion in the
+aspect - he was very fond of this word &ldquo;aspect&rdquo; - which
+it presented to those outside the Church.&nbsp; He called upon his hearers
+to reflect with him for a few moments, in the first place, upon what
+religion was not; secondly, upon what it was; and thirdly, he would
+invite their attention to a few practical conclusions.&nbsp; He observed
+that religion did not consist in vain strife upon earthly matters, which
+only tended towards divisions in the Body of Christ.&nbsp; &ldquo;At
+such a time as this, my brethren, it is important for us to remember
+that these disputes, especially if they are conducted with unseemly
+heat, are detrimental to the interests of the soul and give occasion
+to the enemy to blaspheme.&rdquo;&nbsp; When Mr. Broad came to the secondly.
+and to that sub-division of it which dealt with freedom from worldly
+spots, he repeated the words with some emphasis, &ldquo;&lsquo;Unspotted
+from the world.&rsquo;&nbsp; Think, my friends, of what this involves.&nbsp;
+Spots!&nbsp; The world spots and stains!&nbsp; We are not called upon
+to withdraw ourselves from the world - the apostle does not say that
+- but to keep ourselves unspotted, uncontaminated he appears to mean,
+by worldly influence.&nbsp; The word unspotted in the original bears
+that interpretation - uncontaminated.&nbsp; Therefore, though we must
+be in the world, we are not to be <i>of</i> the world, but to set an
+example to it.&nbsp; In the world!&nbsp; Yes, my brethren, we must necessarily
+be in the world; that is the condition imposed upon us by the Divine
+Providence, because we are in a state of probation; we are so constituted,
+with a body, and with fleshly appetites, that we must be in the world;
+but we must be separate from it and its controversies, which are so
+unimportant compared with our eternal welfare.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Bushel sat on high at his desk, where he gave out the hymns,
+and coughed every now and then, and looked straight at the pew where
+the Allens and George sat.&nbsp; Mr. Bushel knew well enough that, although
+he was just as ardent on the other side, the sermon was not meant for
+him, and not one of Mr. Broad&rsquo;s remarks touched him.&nbsp; He
+thought only of the Allens, and rejoiced inwardly.&nbsp; George walked
+home with Priscilla in silence.&nbsp; At supper-time he suddenly said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I think your father might have found something better to do
+than preach at me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Priscilla was shocked.&nbsp; She had never heard a criticism on her
+father before.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Really, George, what are you thinking of to talk in that way
+about a sermon, and on a Sunday night too?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He did preach at me; and if he has anything to say against
+me, why doesn&rsquo;t he come and say it here or at the shop?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;O George, this is dreadful!&nbsp; Besides, mamma <i>did</i>
+come and talk to me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What has that got to do with it?&nbsp; Well, what did your
+mother say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Why, she told me all about thus meeting, and how you fought
+a man and nearly killed him, and you a member at Tanner&rsquo;s Lane,
+and how you oughtn&rsquo;t to have been there at all, and what Mr. Bushel
+was going to do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oughtn&rsquo;t to have been there at all?&nbsp; Why not?&nbsp;
+I don&rsquo;t believe you know any more than this table why I was there.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh yes, I do.&nbsp; You never tell me anything, but Mrs. Bushel
+told me.&nbsp; You want to get them all turned out of their farms.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Bosh!&nbsp; There you are again! - the pains I took the other
+night again to make you comprehend what Free Trade meant.&nbsp; I knew
+you didn&rsquo;t understand a word about it; and if you did understand,
+you wouldn&rsquo;t believe me.&nbsp; You never take any notice of anything
+I say; but if Mrs. Bushel or any other blockhead tells you anything,
+you believe that directly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Priscilla&rsquo;s eyes filled; she took out her handkerchief, and
+went upstairs.&nbsp; George sat still for a while, and then followed
+her.&nbsp; He found her sitting by the baby&rsquo;s cradle, her head
+on her hands and sobbing.&nbsp; It touched him beyond measure to see
+how she retreated to her child; he went to her; his anger was once more
+forgotten, and once more he was reconciled with kisses and self-humiliation.&nbsp;
+The next morning, however, as he went to the square, the conversation
+of the night before returned to him.&nbsp; &ldquo;What does it all mean?&rdquo;
+he cried to himself.&nbsp; &ldquo;Would to God it were either one thing
+or another!&nbsp; I could be happy if I really cared for her, and if
+I hated her downright I could endure it like any other calamity which
+cannot be altered; but this is more than I can bear!&rdquo;</p>
+<p>The Allens, father and mother, held anxious debate whether they should
+take any notice of the attack by their pastor, and in the end determined
+to do nothing.&nbsp; They considered, and rightly considered, that any
+action on their part would only make George&rsquo;s position more difficult,
+and he was the first person to be considered.</p>
+<p>Next Saturday there was some business to be done in London, and George
+went, this time by himself.&nbsp; On the Sunday morning he called on
+the Colemans, and found Zachariah at home, but Pauline away.&nbsp; Mr.
+Bradshaw, too, was not to preach that day.&nbsp; It was wet, and Zachariah
+and George sat and talked, first about the election, and then about
+other indifferent subjects.&nbsp; Conversation - even of the best, and
+between two friends - is poor work when one of the two suffers from
+some secret sorrow which he cannot reveal, and George grew weary.&nbsp;
+Zachariah knew what was the matter with him, and had known it for a
+long while, but was too tender to hint his knowledge.&nbsp; Nevertheless,
+remembering his own history, he pitied the poor boy exceedingly.&nbsp;
+He loved him as his own child, for his father&rsquo;s sake, and loved
+him all the more for an experience so nearly resembling another which
+he recollected too well.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How is it Mr. Bradshaw is not preaching to-day?&rdquo; said
+George.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;He is ill; I am afraid he is breaking up; and latterly he
+has been worried by the small attacks made upon him by people who are
+afraid to say anything distinctly.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What kind of attacks?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well, they insinuate that he is Arian.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What is that?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah explained the case as well as he could, and George was
+much interested.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Arian or not, I tell you one thing, Mr. Coleman, that Mr.
+Bradshaw, whenever I have heard him, seems to help me as Mr. Broad never
+does.&nbsp; I never think about what Mr. Broad says except when I am
+in chapel, and sometimes not then.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Bradshaw speaks from himself.&nbsp; He said a thing last Sunday
+which stuck by me, and would have pleased a country lad like you more
+than it did three parts of his congregation, who are not so familiar
+with country life as he is.&nbsp; He told us he was out for a holiday,
+and saw some men hoeing in a field - &lsquo;Hoeing the charlock,&rsquo;
+he said to himself; but when he came nearer he found they were hoeing
+turnips - hoeing up the poor plants themselves, which lay dying all
+around; hoeing them up to let the other plants have room to grow.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I have known men,&rdquo; added Zachariah after a pause, &ldquo;from
+whose life so much - all love, for example - has been cut out; and the
+effect has been, not ruin, but growth in other directions which we should
+never have seen without it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Zachariah took down a little book from his shelf, and wrote George&rsquo;s
+name in it.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;There, my boy, it is not much to look at, but I know nothing
+better, and keep it always in your pocket.&nbsp; It is the <i>Imitation
+of Christ</i>.&nbsp; You will find a good deal in it which will suit
+you, and you will say, as I have said a thousand times over it, that
+other people may write of science or philosophy, but this man writes
+about me.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He put it on the table, and George opened it at the sentence, &ldquo;<i>He
+that can best tell how to suffer will best keep himself in peace.&nbsp;
+That man is conqueror of himself, and lord of the world, the friend
+of Christ, and the heir of heaven</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp; He turned over the
+leaves again - &ldquo;<i>He to whom the Eternal Word speaketh is delivered
+from a world of unnecessary conceptions</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp; Zachariah
+bent his head near him and gently expounded the texts.&nbsp; As the
+exposition grew George&rsquo;s heart dilated, and he was carried beyond
+his troubles.&nbsp; It was the birth in him - even in him, a Cowfold
+ironmonger, not a scholar by any means - of what philosophers call the
+<i>idea</i>, that Incarnation which has ever been our Redemption.&nbsp;
+He said nothing to Zachariah about his own affairs, nor did Zachariah,
+as before observed, say anything to him; but the two knew one another,
+and felt that they knew one another as intimately as if George had imparted
+to his friend the minutest details of his unhappiness with his wife.</p>
+<p>Towards the end of the afternoon Pauline returned, and inquired how
+the battle went in Cowfold.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I am afraid we shall be beaten.&nbsp; Sometimes I don&rsquo;t
+seem to care much about it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t care!&nbsp; Why not?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, we talk and talk, father and I, and somehow people&rsquo;s
+minds are made up without talking, and nobody ever changes.&nbsp; When
+we have our meetings, who is it who comes?&nbsp; Does Bushel come?&nbsp;
+Not a bit of it.&nbsp; We only get our own set.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Zachariah, the old man&rsquo;s republican
+revolutionary ardour returning, &ldquo;this is about the only struggle
+in which I have felt much interest of late years.&nbsp; I should like
+to have cheap bread, and what is more, I should like to deprive the
+landlords of that bit of the price which makes the bread dear.&nbsp;
+I agree with you, my boy.&nbsp; Endless discussion is all very well
+- forms &lsquo;public opinion,&rsquo; they say; but I wish a could be
+put to it when it has come round to where it began; that one side could
+say to the other, &lsquo;You have heard all our logic, and we have heard
+all yours;&rsquo; now then, let us settle it.&nbsp; &lsquo;Who is the
+strongest and best drilled?&rsquo;&nbsp; I believe in insurrection.&nbsp;
+Everlasting debate - and it is not genuine debate, for nobody really
+ranges himself alongside his enemy&rsquo;s strongest points - demoralises
+us all.&nbsp; It encourages all sorts of sophistry, becomes mere man&oelig;uvring,
+and saps people&rsquo;s faith in the truth.&nbsp; In half an hour, if
+two persons were to sit opposite one another, they could muster every
+single reason for and against Free Trade.&nbsp; What is the use of going
+on after that?&nbsp; Moreover, insurrection strengthens the belief of
+men in the right.&nbsp; A man who voluntarily incurs the risk of being
+shot believes ever afterwards, if he escapes, a little more earnestly
+than he did before.&nbsp; &lsquo;Who is on the Lord&rsquo;s side, let
+him come unto me,&rsquo; says the flag.&nbsp; Insurrection strengthens,
+too, the faith of others.&nbsp; When a company of poor men meet together
+and declare that things have got to such a pass that they will either
+kill their enemies or die themselves, the world then thinks there must,
+after all, be <i>some</i> difference between right and wrong.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Father, that is all past now.&nbsp; We must settle our quarrels
+in the appointed way.&nbsp; Don&rsquo;t say anything to discourage Mr.
+Allen.&nbsp; Besides, people are not so immovable as you think.&nbsp;
+How they alter I don&rsquo;t know; but they do alter.&nbsp; There is
+a much larger minority in favour of Free Trade than there was ten years
+ago.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All past now, is it?&nbsp; You will see one of these days.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>It was time for tea, and Pauline left to get the tea-things.&nbsp;
+In the evening they strolled out for a walk through Barnsbury and up
+Maiden Lane, then a real and pretty lane stretching north-westwards
+through hedges to Highgate.&nbsp; After they had gone a few hundred
+yards Zachariah went back; he had forgotten something, and George and
+Pauline walked on slowly together.&nbsp; The street was crowded, for
+it was just about church time, but on the opposite side of the road
+George saw somebody whom he knew, but who took no notice of him.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How odd!&rdquo; he said to Pauline; &ldquo;that is Tom Broad!&nbsp;
+What is he doing here, I wonder?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Pauline made no answer, and at that moment Zachariah rejoined them.</p>
+<p>The reason for Mr. Thomas Broad&rsquo;s appearance in that quarter
+will be best explained by the following letter, which he had received
+the day before from his father:-</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;My Dear Thomas, - I was very glad to hear of your success
+at Mr. Martin&rsquo;s chapel, at Hackney, on Sunday afternoon.&nbsp;
+Although it was nothing more than an afternoon service, you must remember
+that it is the first invitation to a metropolitan pulpit which you have
+received.&nbsp; It would be as well if you were to call on Mr. Martin
+at your earliest convenience, and also on Mr. Chandler, in Leather Lane,
+whom you mentioned to me, and who, I believe, is a prominent deacon.&nbsp;
+The choice of your subject was judicious, although it is not so easy
+to fix the character of a discourse for the afternoon as for the morning
+or evening.&nbsp; &lsquo;<i>I will give him a white stone</i>&rsquo;
+is a text I have used myself with great profit.&nbsp; A young minister,
+I need hardly say, my dear Thomas, ought to confine himself to what
+is generally accepted, and not to particularise.&nbsp; For this reason
+he should avoid not only all disputed topics, but, as far as possible,
+all reference to particular offences.&nbsp; I always myself doubted
+the wisdom, for example, of sermons against covetousness, or worldliness,
+or hypocrisy.&nbsp; Let us follow our Lord and Master, and warn our
+hearers against sin, and leave the application to the Holy Spirit.&nbsp;
+I only mention this matter now because I have found two or three young
+students err in this direction, and the error, I am sure, militates
+against their usefulness.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Your dear mamma and Tryphosa are both quite well.&nbsp; Not
+so Priscilla.&nbsp; I grieve to say she is <i>not</i> well.&nbsp; George&rsquo;s
+conduct lately has been very strange.&nbsp; I am afraid that he will
+be a trouble not only to us, but to the Church of Christ.&nbsp; Both
+he and his father have kindled strife amongst us in this unhappy election
+contest, for which, as a minister of God&rsquo;s Word, I have held aloof.&nbsp;
+For one or two Sundays the Allens have absented themselves from Divine
+service in the evening, and we know that there has been no sickness
+in the house.&nbsp; I feel certain that before long they will withdraw
+their subscription.&nbsp; I have good reason to believe that their friend,
+Mr. Coleman, exercises a very baleful influence upon them.&nbsp; However,
+God&rsquo;s will be done!&nbsp; These are the trials which His servants
+who minister to His flock must expect.&nbsp; Good-bye, my dear Thomas.&nbsp;
+Mamma and Tryphosa send their love.&nbsp; Give diligence to make your
+calling and election sure. - Your affectionate father,</p>
+<p>&ldquo;JOHN BROAD.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;P.S. - It will be as well, perhaps, if you can ascertain whether
+the Allens visit the Colemans, and more particularly if George goes
+there.&nbsp; The Coleman household consists, I believe, of a father
+and daughter.&nbsp; You will remember that Coleman has been a convict,
+and, I have heard, has tendencies towards infidelity.&nbsp; Priscilla
+informs me that Mr. Allen and George will be in London to-morrow; but
+she does not know what they are going to do there.&nbsp; You will doubtless
+be able to obtain the information I desire, and on future occasions
+I will also advise you when either George or his father is in the metropolis.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>Mr. Thomas Broad had his own reasons for complying with his father&rsquo;s
+request.&nbsp; He hated the Colemans and George with as much active
+malignity as was possible to his heavy unctuous nature.&nbsp; Why he
+should hate the Colemans is intelligible, and his hatred to George can
+also be explained, partly through sympathy between father and son, and
+partly because the hatred of a person like Thomas Broad to a person
+like George Allen needs no explanation.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXV - &ldquo;AND A MAN&rsquo;S FOES SHALL BE THEY OF HIS
+OWN HOUSEHOLD&rdquo;</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>The county polling day meanwhile drew near, and with its approach
+party spirit rose and the mutual exasperation of both sides increased.&nbsp;
+George and his father were out every evening at the Institute or canvassing,
+and George&rsquo;s first attempts at public speaking were a success.&nbsp;
+At length the day dawned which was to decide their fate.&nbsp; Cowfold
+was the polling station for a large district, and both sides fully recognised
+its importance.&nbsp; The Democratic colour was orange, and the Tory
+was purple.&nbsp; Everybody wore rosettes, and bands of music went about
+the town, carrying flags and banners, which had such an effect upon
+the Cowfold population, more particularly upon that portion of it which
+knew nothing whatever of the questions at issue, that the mere sound
+of the instruments or sight of a bit of bunting tied to a pole was sufficient
+to enable them to dare a broken head, or even death.&nbsp; Beer may
+have been partly the cause of this peculiar mental condition, but not
+entirely, for sober persons felt the contagion.&nbsp; We may laugh at
+it if we please, and no doubt it is evidence of the weakness of human
+nature; but, like much more evidence of the same order, it is double-voiced,
+and testifies also to our strength.</p>
+<p>Priscilla was staying that night with her mother.&nbsp; Mr. Broad&rsquo;s
+house, at the end of the town, was very quiet, and George did not care
+to leave her alone with the servant.&nbsp; Those were the days when
+the state of the poll was published every hour, and as Cowfold lay near
+the centre of the county a very fair opinion could be formed of the
+progress of the voting.&nbsp; By three o&rsquo;clock it was known that
+up to eleven parties were neck and neck, and the excitement grew more
+and more intense.&nbsp; Every public-house in Cowfold was free, and
+soon after dinner-time there was not a single person in the place who
+was ever drunk before who had not found it necessary to get drunk then
+in order to support the strain on his nerves.&nbsp; Four o&rsquo;clock
+came, and the polling-booth was shut; the numbers were made up, and
+the two committees now anxiously awaited the news from the outlying
+districts.&nbsp; The general impression seemed to be that the popular
+candidate would win by about a dozen, and by eight o&rsquo;clock a crowd
+had assembled before the &ldquo;Cross Keys&rdquo; to give due welcome
+to the desired announcement.&nbsp; Ten o&rsquo;clock came, and the mob
+began to get impatient and unruly.&nbsp; Then there was a stir and a
+roar, and the whole assemblage rushed off to the &ldquo;Angel,&rdquo;
+in the square.&nbsp; On the balcony was a huge placard, with the purple
+hero at the top - 1837 - and below was the orange favourite, in small
+and ignominious figures - 1831.&nbsp; Bushel stood at the open window
+waving his hat, apparently half frantic.&nbsp; Just underneath him was
+a smaller crowd of the purple faction, who were cheering and bawling
+with all their might as the enemy came in sight.&nbsp; In an instant
+the conflict had begun.&nbsp; The purple banners were the first objects
+of attack, and disappeared every one of them, in less than five minutes,
+underfoot.&nbsp; Seen from one of the upper storeys of the houses, the
+square looked like a great pot full of boiling confusion.&nbsp; By degrees
+the wearers of purple were driven hard against the &ldquo;Angel&rdquo;
+yard-gates, which opened to receive them; some who were not successful
+in securing admittance escaping, with bloody heads, down the side lane,
+and so out across the fields.&nbsp; There was great difficulty in shutting
+the gates again; but the &ldquo;Angel&rdquo; hostlers appeared on the
+scene with pitchforks and other weapons, which caused an ebb of the
+tide for a moment.&nbsp; They managed in the nick of time to swing the
+gates together, and the heavy wooden bar was thrown across them.&nbsp;
+The orange party was now triumphant, but very unhappy, because it was
+able to do no further mischief.&nbsp; Suddenly Bushel was seen again
+at the window, and, as it was afterwards averred, made some insulting
+gesture.&nbsp; A stone was the prompt response, and in five minutes
+there was not a whole pane of glass left in the front of the building.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;Have old Bushel out!&nbsp; Smoke &rsquo;em out!&rdquo; was shouted,
+and a rush followed towards the door.&nbsp; But the insurgents had no
+siege train for such a fortress, and the sight of two or three fowling-pieces
+somewhat damped their courage.&nbsp; They therefore turned off, wrecked
+the brewer&rsquo;s house, and forced the &ldquo;Angel&rdquo; tap, which
+was separated from the main building.&nbsp; The spirit-casks were broached,
+and men turned the gin and brandy taps into their mouths without waiting
+for glasses.&nbsp; Many of them, especially those who first entered,
+were at once overcome and dropped, lying about in the room and in the
+gutter perfectly insensible.&nbsp; The remainder, who could only drink
+what was left, became more and more riotous, and a general sack of all
+purple property was imminent.&nbsp; Mr. Allen was at the &ldquo;Cross
+Keys,&rdquo; but George was at home, and as he watched the scene he
+saw the mob take a kind of lurch and sway along the street which led
+to Mr. Broad&rsquo;s.&nbsp; He thought he heard Mr. Broad&rsquo;s name,
+and in an instant he had buttoned-up his coat, taken the heaviest stick
+he could find, and was off.&nbsp; He had the greatest difficulty in
+forcing his way, and he did not reach the front of the crowd till it
+was opposite Mr. Broad&rsquo;s and the destruction of the windows had
+begun.&nbsp; He leaped over the iron railing, and presented himself
+at the gate with the orange rosette on his coat and the stick in his
+right hand.&nbsp; He was just in time, for yells of &ldquo;Psalm-singing
+old hypocrite!&rdquo; were already in the air, and the fence was being
+stormed.&nbsp; George administered to the foremost ruffian a blow on
+the shoulder which felled him on the path outside, and then, standing
+on the low brick wall on which the railings rested, showed his rosette,
+brandished his club, and made some kind of inarticulate expostulation,
+which, happily for him and Mr. Broad, was received with cheers.&nbsp;
+Whether taken by itself it would have been effectual or not cannot be
+said, for just at that moment a more powerful auxiliary appeared.&nbsp;
+When the &ldquo;Angel&rdquo; was abandoned the imprisoned garrison,
+amongst whom were one or two county magistrates, held a brief consultation.&nbsp;
+They organised their force and marched out, the well-to-do folk in front
+and abreast, armed with bludgeons, the &ldquo;Angel&rdquo; dependents
+- and about fifty more of the refugees coming in the rear, every garden
+and stable weapon of offence being distributed amongst them.&nbsp; They
+had the advantage, of course, of being sober.&nbsp; They advanced at
+a run, and their tramp was heard just as George was beginning to try
+the effect of his eloquence.&nbsp; Panic and scattering flight at once
+followed, not, however, before some dozen or so of the fugitives had
+recovered what little sense they ever had by virtue of sundry hard knocks
+on their skulls, and a dozen more or so had been captured.&nbsp; By
+twelve o&rsquo;clock Cowfold was quiet and peaceable.</p>
+<p>Citizens were left to wonder how their town, lying usually so sleepily
+still, like a farmyard on a summer Sunday afternoon, could ever transform
+itself after this fashion.&nbsp; Men unknown and never before seen seemed
+suddenly to spring out of the earth, and as suddenly to disappear.&nbsp;
+Who were they?&nbsp; Respectable Cowfold, which thought it knew everybody
+in the place, could not tell.&nbsp; There was no sign of their existence
+on the next day.&nbsp; People gathered together and looked at the mischief
+wrought the night before, and talked everlastingly about it; but the
+doers of it vanished, rapt away apparently into an invisible world.&nbsp;
+On Sunday next, at one o&rsquo;clock, Cowfold Square, save for a few
+windows not yet mended, looked just as it always looked; that is to
+say, not a soul was visible in it, and the pump was, as usual, chained.</p>
+<p>The band of rescuers had passed George as he stood in the garden,
+and when they had gone he knocked at the door.&nbsp; It was a long time
+before anybody came, but at last it was partly opened, just as far as
+the chain would permit, and the Reverend John Broad, looking very white
+and with a candle in his hand appeared.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;It is I, George, Mr. Broad.&nbsp; Please tell me how Priscilla
+is, and - how you all are after your fright.&nbsp; I will not come in
+if you are all well.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, Mr. George, you will not come in.&nbsp; I little thought
+that a member of Tanner&rsquo;s Lane Church, and my daughter&rsquo;s
+husband, would associate himself with such disgraceful proceedings as
+those we have witnessed this evening.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;But, Mr. Broad, you are quite mistaken.&nbsp; I was not with
+the mob.&nbsp; I came here as soon as I could to protect you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Broad, terrified and wrathful, had, however, disappeared, and
+George heard the bolts drawn.&nbsp; He was beside himself with passion,
+and knocked again and again, but there was no answer.&nbsp; He was inclined
+to try and break open the door at first, or seek an entrance through
+a window, but he thought of Priscilla, and desisted.</p>
+<p>He was turning homewards, when he reflected that it would be useless
+to attempt to go to sleep, and he wandered out into the country towards
+Piddingfold, pondering over many things.&nbsp; The reaction of that
+night had been too severe.&nbsp; His ardour was again almost entirely
+quenched when he saw the men for whom he had worked, and who professed
+themselves his supporters, filthily drunk.&nbsp; A noble sentence, however,
+from the <i>Idler</i> came into his mind - his mother had a copy of
+the <i>Idler</i> in her bedroom, and read and re-read it, and oftentimes
+quoted it to her husband and her son - &ldquo;<i>He that has improved
+the virtue or advanced the happiness of one fellow-creature . . may
+be contented with his own performance; and, with respect to mortals
+like himself, may demand, like Augustus, to be dismissed at his departure
+with applause</i>.&rdquo;&nbsp; He reflected that he, an ironmonger&rsquo;s
+son, was not born to save the world, and if the great Dr. Johnson could
+say what he did, with how little ought not a humble Cowfold tradesman
+to be satisfied!&nbsp; We all of us have too vast a conception of the
+duty which Providence has imposed upon us; and one great service which
+modern geology and astronomy have rendered is the abatement of the fever
+by which earnest people are so often consumed.&nbsp; But George&rsquo;s
+meditations all through that night were in the main about his wife,
+and as soon as he reached his shop in the morning, the first thing he
+did was to write a note to her telling her to come home.&nbsp; This
+she did, although her mother and father objected, and George found her
+there at dinner-time.&nbsp; She looked pale and careworn, but this,
+of course, was set down to fright.&nbsp; She was unusually quiet, and
+George forbore to say anything about her father&rsquo;s behaviour.&nbsp;
+He dreaded rather to open the subject; he could not tell to what it
+might lead.&nbsp; Priscilla knew all about George&rsquo;s repulse from
+her father&rsquo;s door, and George could tell she knew it.</p>
+<p>His father and he had determined that Cowfold would not be a pleasant
+place for them on the following Sunday, and that business, moreover,
+demanded their presence in London.&nbsp; Thither, accordingly, they
+went on the Saturday, as usual; and Priscilla naturally communicating
+their intention to her mother, Mr. Thomas Broad received an epistle
+from his father something like one we have already read, but still more
+imperative in its orders that the dutiful son should see whether the
+Allens made Zachariah&rsquo;s house their head-quarters.&nbsp; That
+they did not sleep there was well-known, but it was believed they had
+constant intercourse with that unregenerate person, a disciple of Voltaire,
+as the Reverend John Broad firmly believed, and it would be &ldquo;advantageous
+to possess accumulated evidence of the fact.&rdquo;&nbsp; Priscilla
+knew that they lodged always at the &ldquo;George and Blue Boar&rdquo;;
+but how they spent their time on Sunday she did not know.&nbsp; There
+was also a postscript, this time with a new import:</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>&ldquo;It has been reported that Coleman&rsquo;s daughter is a young
+female not without a certain degree of attractiveness.&nbsp; It may
+perhaps, my dear Thomas, be some day of service to me and to the church
+if you were to inform me whether you have observed any tendencies towards
+familiarity between George and this person.&nbsp; I need not at the
+present moment give you my reasons for this inquiry.&nbsp; It will be
+sufficient to say that I have nothing more in view than the welfare
+of the flock which Divine Providence has committed to my charge.&rdquo;</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div>
+<p>Mr. Thomas did his duty, and a letter was received by his father
+on the following Tuesday, which was carefully locked up in the drawer
+in which the sermons were preserved.</p>
+<p>The next day - that is to say, on Wednesday - George was at work,
+as usual, when his little maid came to say that her mistress was very
+bad, and would he go home directly?&nbsp; She had been unwell for some
+days, but it was not thought that there was anything serious the matter
+with her.&nbsp; George followed the girl at once, and found Priscilla
+in bed with a violent headache and very feverish.&nbsp; The doctor came,
+and pronounced it a case of &ldquo;low fever,&rdquo; a disease well
+enough known in Cowfold.&nbsp; Let us make the dismal story as brief
+as possible.&nbsp; Nurse Barton, hearing of her &ldquo;dear boy&rsquo;s&rdquo;
+trouble, presented herself uninvited that evening at ten o&rsquo;clock,
+and insisted that George should not sit up.&nbsp; She remained in the
+house, notwithstanding Mrs. Broad&rsquo;s assurances that she really
+was not wanted, and watched over Priscilla till the end came.</p>
+<p>About a week afterwards, just when Priscilla seemed to be getting
+a little better - she had been delirious, but her senses had returned
+- and Mrs. Allen, who had been in the house all day, had departed, a
+change for the worse took place, and the doctor was summoned.&nbsp;
+George, sitting in the parlour alone, heard Nurse Barton come downstairs.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;My dear boy,&rdquo; she said as she entered, &ldquo;God in
+His mercy strengthen you in this trial as He has laid upon you, but
+I thought I&rsquo;d just come and tell you myself.&nbsp; The doctor
+wor a-comm&rsquo;, but I said &lsquo;No; my boy shall hear it from me.&rsquo;&nbsp;
+I don&rsquo;t think as your wife will get better; she don&rsquo;t seem
+to pull herself up a bit.&nbsp; She a&rsquo;nt got no strength no more
+than a fly.&nbsp; You&rsquo;d better see her, I think.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Who is there?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Her mother and the doctor.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you get rid of them?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;All right, my dear.&nbsp; I must stay with you both, but you
+won&rsquo;t mind me - God bless you!&rdquo; and the woman put her arms
+round George&rsquo;s neck and kissed him tenderly.</p>
+<p>She returned, and presently she redeemed her promise, for she actually
+got Mrs. Broad away.&nbsp; At first she was obstinate, but Priscilla
+whispered that she wished to see her husband alone, and the doctor took
+upon him to warn Mrs. Broad that resistance on her part might be dangerous.&nbsp;
+She then retreated with him, and George found himself by the bedside.&nbsp;
+His wife was so prostrate that she was hardly able to make herself heard,
+but she lifted up her finger and made a sign that he should bend his
+head down to her.&nbsp; He bent it down, and her damp brown hair - the
+beautiful brown hair he had loved so - lay on his forehead, and its
+scent was all about him once more.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;George, my dear,&rdquo; she just breathed out, &ldquo;I am
+a poor silly girl, but I always loved you.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>He stopped her instantly with his kisses, but Death had stopped her
+too.&nbsp; He recoiled for a moment, and with a sudden scream.&nbsp;
+&ldquo;O God, she&rsquo;s gone!&rdquo; he fell into the arms of his
+nurse, who stood behind him.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVI - A PROFESSIONAL CONSULTATION</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Three months passed, during which the Allens&rsquo; pew was vacant
+at Tanner&rsquo;s Lane.&nbsp; George remained at home with his only
+child, or was at his mother&rsquo;s, or, shocking to relate, was in
+the fields, but not at chapel; nor were any of his family there.&nbsp;
+During the whole of these three months one image was for ever before
+his eyes.&nbsp; What self-accusations!&nbsp; Of what injustice had he
+not been guilty?&nbsp; Little things, at the time unnoticed, turns of
+her head, smiles, the fall of her hair - oh, that sweet sweet brown
+hair! - all came back to him, and were as real before him as the garden
+wall.&nbsp; He thought of her lying in her grave - she whom he had caressed
+- of what was going on down there, under the turf, and he feared he
+should go mad.&nbsp; Where was she?&nbsp; Gone, for ever gone - gone
+before he had been able to make her understand how much he really loved
+her, and so send her to sleep in peace.&nbsp; But was she not in heaven?&nbsp;
+Would he not see her again?&nbsp; He did not know.&nbsp; Strange to
+say, but true, he, a member of Tanner&rsquo;s Lane Church, who had never
+read a sceptical book in his life, was obliged to confess, perhaps not
+consciously, but none the less actually, he did not know.</p>
+<p>In those dark three months the gospel according to Tanner&rsquo;s
+Lane did nothing for him, and he was cast forth to wrestle with his
+sufferings alone.&nbsp; It is surely a terrible charge to bring against
+a religious system, that in the conflict which has to be waged by every
+son of Adam with disease, misfortune, death, the believers in it are
+provided with neither armour nor weapons.&nbsp; Surely a real religion,
+handed down from century to century, ought to have accumulated a store
+of consolatory truths which will be of some help to us in time of need.&nbsp;
+If it can tell us nothing, if we cannot face a single disaster any the
+better for it, and if we never dream of turning to it when we are in
+distress, of what value is it?&nbsp; There is one religious teacher,
+however, which seldom fails those who are in health, and, at last, did
+not fail him.&nbsp; He was helped by no priest and by no philosophy;
+but Nature helped him, the beneficent Power which heals the burn or
+scar and covers it with new skin.</p>
+<p>At the end of the three months the Reverend John Broad received a
+brief note from Mr. Allen announcing that their pew at the chapel could
+be considered vacant, and that the subscription would be discontinued.&nbsp;
+Within a week Mr. Broad invited Brother Bushel, Brother Wainwright the
+cart-builder and blacksmith, and Brother Scotton the auctioneer, to
+a private meeting at his own house.&nbsp; In a short speech Mr. Broad
+said that he had sought a preliminary conference with them to lay before
+them the relationship in which the Allens stood to the church in Tanner&rsquo;s
+Lane.&nbsp; They had formally ceased to attend his ministrations, but
+of course, as yet, they remained on the church books.&nbsp; It was a
+matter which he, as the minister of the flock, felt could not any longer
+be overlooked.&nbsp; He would say nothing of the part which the Allens
+had taken in the late unhappy controversies which had distracted the
+town, excepting that he considered they had displayed a heat and animosity
+inconsistent with their professions and detrimental to the best interests
+of the cause.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I agree with that, Mr. Broad,&rdquo; interrupted Mr. Bushel;
+&ldquo;and I may say that, as you know, if you had done nothing, <i>I
+should</i>; for how any member of the - gospel - could live in - and
+go on - peace harmony with all men in the Church of Christ, I, at, least
+- that&rsquo;s my opinion.&rdquo;&nbsp; Mr. Bushel was shortnecked,
+and shook his head always while he was talking, apparently in order
+to disengage his meaning, which consequently issued in broken fragments.</p>
+<p>Mr. Broad resumed - &ldquo;I may, however, observe that George Allen
+was in company with the intoxicated mob which devastated Cowfold; and
+although he has asserted that he merely endeavoured to control its excesses
+- and such appears to be the view taken by the civil authorities who
+have prosecuted the perpetrators of the outrages - we, as members, my
+dear brethren, of Christ&rsquo;s Body, have to be guided by other considerations.&nbsp;
+While upon this subject of George Allen, I may say, with as much delicacy
+as is permissible to a faithful minister of God&rsquo;s holy Word, that
+I fear George has been - a - h&rsquo;m - what shall I say? - at least
+led astray by an unhappy intimacy with a female residing in the metropolis
+who is an infidel.&nbsp; I have no doubt in my own mind that the knowledge
+of this fact accelerated the departure of my dear daughter, whose sorrow
+was of a twofold character - sorrow, in the first place, with regard
+to her husband&rsquo;s unfaithfulness, causing her thereby much personal
+affliction, which, however, endureth but for a moment, for she now inherits
+a far more exceeding weight of glory&rdquo; - Mr. Broad&rsquo;s week-day
+and extempore quotations from the Bible were always rather muddled -
+&ldquo;and, in the second place, sorrow for her husband&rsquo;s soul.&nbsp;
+I think we have distinct evidence of this intimacy, which I shall be
+able to produce at the proper moment.&nbsp; We have all observed, too,
+that whilst the Allens have not latterly attended Divine Service at
+Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, they have not seceded to another place of worship.&nbsp;
+Finally, and by way of conclusion, let me remark that I have wrestled
+long with the Lord to know what was my duty towards these apostates
+and towards the Church of Christ.&nbsp; I considered at first I ought
+to remonstrate privately with Mr. Allen; but, alas! he has shown a recalcitrant
+disposition whenever I have attempted to approach him.&nbsp; I have
+consulted Brother Bushel on the subject; indeed, I may say that Brother
+Bushel had previously intimated to me the necessity of taking some steps
+in the matter, and had assured me that he could not any longer occupy
+the prominent position which he now occupies in the church - so much,
+I may say, to our own edification and advantage - if something were
+not done.&nbsp; We think, therefore, that the church should be privately
+convoked for deliberation.&nbsp; Brother Wainwright, what counsel have
+you to give?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Brother Wainwright always had a heavy account with Brother Bushel.&nbsp;
+He was a little man, with a little round head covered with straggling
+hair, which came over his forehead.&nbsp; He sat with his hat between
+his knees, looked into it, scratched his head, and said with a jerk,
+&ldquo;Oi agree with Brother Bushel.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Brother Scotton, what do you say?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Brother Scotton was a Cowfold man, tall and thin, superintendent
+of the Sunday-school, and to a considerable extent independent of village
+custom.&nbsp; He was not only an auctioneer, but a land surveyor; he
+also valued furniture, and when there were any houses to be let, drew
+up agreements, made inventories, and had even been known to prepare
+leases.&nbsp; There was always, therefore, a legal flavour about him,
+and he prided himself on his distant professional relationship to full-blown
+attorneyhood.&nbsp; It was tacitly understood in Cowfold that his opinion
+in certain cases was at least equal to that of Mortimer, Wake, Collins
+&amp; Mortimer who acted as solicitors for half the county.&nbsp; Mr.
+Scotton, too, represented Cowfold urban intelligence as against agricultural
+rusticity; and another point in his favour was, that he had an office
+- no shop - with a wire blind in the window with the words, &ldquo;Scotton,
+Land Agent, Auctioneer, and Appraiser,&rdquo; painted on it.&nbsp; On
+Mr. Broad&rsquo;s present appeal for his verdict put himself in a meditative
+attitude, stretched out his legs to their full length, threw his head
+back, took his lower lip in his left hand, pulled up his legs again,
+bent forward, put his hands on his knees, and looked sideways at Mr.
+Broad.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;I suppose that Mr. Allen and his son will have the charges
+communicated to them, Mr. Broad, and be summoned to attend the meeting?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you say, Brother Bushel?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t see no use in it.&nbsp; All very well them lawyers&rdquo;
+- a snap at Scotton - &ldquo;come and argyfy - I hate argyfying, I do
+myself - never seed no good on it.&nbsp; Get rid of a man - I do.&nbsp;
+&lsquo;Sickly sheep infects the flock and pisons all the rest.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;
+These last words formed part of a hymn of which Brother Bushel was fond.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;What do you say, Brother Wainwright?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Brother Wainwright, although he could do nothing but agree with Brother
+Bushel, and never did anything but agree with him, preferred to make
+a show of reflection.&nbsp; He again looked in his hat, shut his mouth
+fast; again scratched his head; again shook it a little, and with another
+jerk, as if announcing a conclusion at which he had arrived with great
+certainty, but after a severe mental effort, he said:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Oi go with Brother Bushel, <i>Oi</i> do.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Scotton, extending his legs again and gazing
+at the ceiling, &ldquo;I must nevertheless be permitted to adhere -
+&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Adhere,&rdquo; interrupted Bushel.&nbsp; &ldquo;What&rsquo;s
+the use of talking like that?&nbsp; You always adhere - what for, I
+should like to know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Scotton went on with dignity, not noticing the attack.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Adhere, I was about to say, Mr. Broad, to my previously expressed
+opinion.&nbsp; I am not at all sure that the Allens have not a legal
+status, and that an action would not lie if we proceeded without due
+formalities.&nbsp; Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, you must recollect, is in a
+peculiar position, and there is an endowment.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Scotton had this advantage over Cowfold generally, that if he
+knew nothing about the law himself, excepting so far as bids at a sale
+were concerned, Cowfold knew less, and the mention of the endowment
+somewhat disturbed Mr. Broad&rsquo;s mind.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Brother Bushel is no doubt quite justified in his anxiety
+to avoid discussion, which will in all probability lead to no useful
+result; but, on the other hand, it will be as well, perhaps, to proceed
+with caution.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; ejaculated Bushel, &ldquo;do as yer like; you&rsquo;ll
+see you&rsquo;ll get in an argyfication and a mess, you take my word
+on it.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Suppose,&rdquo; said Mr. Broad, his face shining as he spoke,
+&ldquo;we hit upon a third course, the <i>via</i> <i>media</i>, you
+know, Brother Scotton&rdquo; - Brother Scotton nodded approvingly, as
+much as to say, &ldquo;<i>I</i> know; but how about Bushel?&rdquo; -
+&ldquo;the <i>via media</i>, and have a friendly meeting of the most
+influential members of the church - a majority - and determine upon
+a course of action, which we can afterwards ratify at the formal meeting,
+at which the Allens will be present.&nbsp; We shall in this way, it
+seems to me, prevent much debate, and practically arrive at a conclusion
+beforehand.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said Scotton - very slowly.&nbsp; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t
+see, at the present moment, any particular objection; but I should not
+like to commit myself.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;How does it strike you, Brother Bushel?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Arter that, I suppose Scotton ull want some sort of a dockyment
+sent.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m agin all deckyments.&nbsp; Why, what&rsquo;ll
+Allen do?&nbsp; Take it over to Collins - Mortimer - stamp it, ten-and-sixpenny
+stamp.&nbsp; What will yer do then?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;No, Brother Bushel; I apprehend that it will be my duty as
+pastor to write to the Allens a simple letter - a simple pastoral letter
+- announcing that a church meeting will be convened at a certain hour
+in the vestry, to consider some statements - charges - naming them -
+not going into unnecessary detail, and requesting their attendance.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s better; that wouldn&rsquo;t be a dockyment, I
+s&rsquo;pose; and yet praps he might stamp that.&nbsp; Resolution arterwards.&nbsp;
+Time they were out of it.&nbsp; Come on, Wainwright, gettin&rsquo; dark.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Well then, we agree,&rdquo; said Mr. Broad - &ldquo;happily
+agree; and I trust that the Lord will yet prosper His Zion, and heal
+the breaches thereof.&nbsp; Will any of you take any refreshments before
+you go?&nbsp; Will you, Brother Bushel?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Brother Bushel did not believe in Mr. Broad&rsquo;s refreshments,
+save those which were spiritual, and declined them with some abruptness,
+preferring much a glass of hot brown brandy and water at the inn where
+his horse was.&nbsp; Brother Wainwright would have taken anything, but
+was bound to follow Brother Bushel, who was about to give him a lift
+homewards; and Brother Scotton was a teetotaller, one of the first who
+was converted to total abstinence in Cowfold, and just a trifle suspected
+at Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, and by Bushel in particular, on that account.&nbsp;
+Water-drinking was not a heresy to which any definite objection could
+be raised; but Tanner&rsquo;s Lane always felt that if once a man differed
+so far from his fellows as not to drink beer and spirits, there was
+no knowing where the division might end.&nbsp; &ldquo;It was the thin
+end of the wedge,&rdquo; Mr. Broad observed confidentially to Bushel
+once when the subject was mentioned.</p>
+<p>The preliminary meeting, therefore, was held, and Mr. Broad having
+communicated the charges against the Allens - absenting themselves from
+public worship, disturbance of the peace of the church, intercourse
+with infidel associates, and finally so far as George was concerned,
+&ldquo;questionable behaviour,&rdquo; as Mr. Broad delicately put it,
+&ldquo;with an infidel female&rdquo; - it was determined to call them
+to account.&nbsp; There was some difference of opinion, however.&nbsp;
+It was thought by some that all reference to the election, direct or
+indirect, should be avoided, for the majority in Tanner&rsquo;s Lane
+was certainly not Tory.&nbsp; But Brother Bushel seemed to consider
+this the head and front of the offence, and declared that if this were
+not part of the indictment he would resign.&nbsp; He also was opposed
+to giving the Allens any information beforehand, and, if he had been
+allowed to have his own way, would not have permitted them to attend.&nbsp;
+He would have them &ldquo;cut off,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;there and
+then, summararlilly.&rdquo;&nbsp; He got into great difficulties with
+this last word, and before he could get rid of it had to shake his head
+several times.&nbsp; Others thought it would be dangerous to act in
+this style; and there seemed no chance of any agreement, until Mr. Broad
+once more &ldquo;healed the incipient division&rdquo; by proposing another
+<i>via media</i>, which was carried.&nbsp; It was determined that there
+should be only an allusion to the political charge.&nbsp; It was to
+be subsidiary.&nbsp; In fact, it was not to be a political charge at
+all, but a moral charge, although, as Mr. Broad privately explained
+to Brother Bushel, it would come to the same thing in the end.&nbsp;
+Then Mr. Broad, as he had suggested at an earlier stage, was himself
+to write a letter to the Allens, stating in &ldquo;general terms&rdquo;
+the dissatisfaction felt by the church and its minister with them, and
+requesting their appearance in the vestry on the day named.&nbsp; Brother
+Scotton was still malcontent, but as he was in a minority he held his
+peace.&nbsp; He resolved, however, on his own account, to acquaint the
+Allens with what had happened, and prepare them.&nbsp; They were no
+particular friends of his, but Bushel also was no particular friend,
+and his auctioneering trade had at least educated him, in the disputes
+amongst buyers, to hold the scales of justice a little more evenly than
+they were held by Bushel&rsquo;s hands.</p>
+<p>Neither George nor his father were much disturbed by any of the items
+in Scotton&rsquo;s information nor by Mr. Broad&rsquo;s letter, save
+the reference to Pauline.&nbsp; It is true it was very remote, but the
+meaning, especially after Scotton&rsquo;s explanation, was obvious,
+and George was in a fury which his father found it very difficult to
+repress.&nbsp; For himself George did not care, but he did care that
+Pauline&rsquo;s name should not be dragged into the wretched squabble.&nbsp;
+Father and son both agreed that the case should be laid before Zachariah;
+but when Mr. Allen came back from London he merely said, in answer to
+George&rsquo;s inquiries, that Zachariah and himself were in perfect
+accord, and that at the meeting George was not to interfere.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVII - MR. BROAD&rsquo;S LAST CHURCH MEETING - LATIMER
+CHAPEL</h2>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>The eventful evening at last arrived.&nbsp; It had been announced
+from the pulpit on the Sunday before that a special meeting of the church
+would be held on the following Wednesday to consider certain questions
+of discipline - nothing more - as it was not thought proper before the
+general congregation to introduce matters with which the church alone
+was qualified to deal.&nbsp; Everybody, however, knew what was intended,
+and when Wednesday night came the vestry was crowded.&nbsp; Mr. Broad
+sat in a seat slightly elevated at the end of the room, with a desk
+before him.&nbsp; On his right hand was Brother Bushel, on the left
+was Brother Scotton, and on the front bench were Brother Wainwright
+and a few of the more important members, amongst whom was Thomas Broad,
+who, although it was a week-day, was in full ministerial costume; that
+is to say, he wore his black - not pepper-and-salt - trousers and a
+white neckerchief.&nbsp; Mr. Allen and George were at the back of the
+room.&nbsp; There were no women there, for although women were members
+as well as men, it was always an understood thing at Tanner&rsquo;s
+Lane that they were to take no part in the business of the community.&nbsp;
+Seven o&rsquo;clock having struck, Mr. Broad rose and said, &ldquo;Let
+us pray.&rdquo;&nbsp; He prayed for about ten minutes, and besought
+the Almighty to shed abroad His Holy Spirit upon them for their guidance.&nbsp;
+As the chosen people had been brought through the wilderness and delivered
+from the manifold perils therein, so God, he hoped, would lead His flock
+then assembled, through the dangers which encompassed them.&nbsp; Oh
+that they might be wise as serpents and harmless as doves!&nbsp; Might
+they for ever cleave to the faith once delivered to the saints!&nbsp;
+Might they never be led astray to doubt the efficacy of the Blood of
+the Atonement once offered by the Son of God!&nbsp; Might they, through
+their Saviour&rsquo;s merits, secure at last an entrance into those
+mansions where all the saints of God, those faithful souls whom He had
+elected as His own, of His own eternal foreknowledge, would abide for
+ever, in full fruition of the joys promised in His Word.</p>
+<p>The prayer over, Mr. Broad rose and said that he was there that night
+to discharge a most painful duty - one which, if he had taken counsel
+with flesh and blood, he would most gladly have avoided.&nbsp; But he
+was a humble servant of their common Lord and Master.&nbsp; It behoved
+him to cease not to warn every one night and day; to remember that the
+Holy Ghost had made him an overseer to feed the church of God which
+He had purchased with His precious blood.&nbsp; He had done nothing
+in this matter without constant recurrence to the footstool of grace,
+and he had also consulted with some of his dear brethren in Christ whom
+he saw near him.&nbsp; They would have observed that Brother Allen and
+his family had for some time absented themselves from the means of grace.&nbsp;
+He should have said nothing upon this point if they had joined any other
+Christian community.&nbsp; If even they had attended the Established
+Church, he would have been silent, for he was free to confess that in
+other religious bodies besides their own God had faithful servants who
+held fast to the fundamental doctrines of His book.&nbsp; But it was
+notorious, alas! that his dear brother had gone NOWHERE!&nbsp; In the
+face of the apostolic command not to forsake the assembling of themselves
+together, what could they do but suspect that his dear brother&rsquo;s
+belief had been undermined - sapped, he would say?&nbsp; But to that
+point he would return presently.&nbsp; Then, again, they were all familiar
+with the circumstances attending the late political contest in the county.&nbsp;
+He knew that many of his dear brethren differed one from another concerning
+matters relating to this world, although they were all, blessed be God,
+one in Christ, members of His body.&nbsp; He himself had thought it
+better to follow as far as he could, the example of his Lord and Master
+to render unto C&aelig;sar the things that are C&aelig;sar&rsquo;s,
+and to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.&nbsp;
+He would not for a moment, however, condemn any who differed from him
+in carnal policy.&nbsp; But his dear Brother Allen and his son had overstepped
+the line; and, considering this was a mixed church, he was of opinion
+that they should have acted - what should he say? - with more Christian
+consideration.&nbsp; More than this, Mr. George Allen was known to have
+abetted an unruly mob, a position highly unbecoming, he might say, to
+one occupying the position of member at Tanner&rsquo;s Lane.&nbsp; But
+he might, perhaps, be permitted to dwell for a moment on another point.&nbsp;
+His dear Brother Allen and his son had - there was no doubt of it -
+consorted with infidels, one of whom had been convicted by the laws
+of his country - a convict - and it was through their instrumentality
+that his brethren had been led to wander from the fold.&nbsp; This was
+the secret of the calamity which had overtaken the church.&nbsp; Wolves,
+he would say - yes, wolves, grievous wolves - had entered in, not sparing
+the flock.&nbsp; Let them consider what an Infidel was!&nbsp; It meant
+a man who denied his Maker, Revelation, a life beyond the grave, and
+who made awful jests upon the Holy Scriptures!&nbsp; He had evidence
+that in this miserable household there was a portrait of that dreadful
+blasphemer Voltaire, who on his deathbed cried out in vain for that
+salvation which he had so impiously refused, and amidst shrieks of -
+despair, which chilled with terror those who stood by him, was carried
+off by the Enemy of Souls to the lake that burneth with brimstone, where
+their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. - (Sensation.)&nbsp;
+(This was a famous paragraph in one of Mr. Broad&rsquo;s sermons preached
+on great occasions, and particularly when he supplied a metropolitan
+pulpit.&nbsp; The story had been contradicted twice in the county paper
+by a Frenchman, a retired teacher of his native language, who had somehow
+heard of the insult offered to his great countryman, and a copy of the
+contradiction had been sent to Mr. Broad.&nbsp; He was content with
+observing that its author was a Frenchman, and therefore probably an
+atheist, &ldquo;with no consciousness of moral obligation.&rdquo;&nbsp;
+Voltaire&rsquo;s diabolic disappearance continued, therefore, to be
+one of Mr. Broad&rsquo;s most striking effects.) - This was a subject
+of great delicacy.&nbsp; They knew how closely related he was to Brother
+Allen through that dear saint now in glory.&nbsp; He did not - he could
+not - (Mr. Broad seemed to be affected) - allude in any detail to what
+had happened; but still it was his duty to point out that Mr. George
+Allen had been in constant intercourse with a female in an infidel family
+- yes, before his wife&rsquo;s death he had been seen with her <i>alone</i>!&nbsp;
+<i>Alone</i> with an infidel female!&nbsp; He only hoped that the knowledge
+of this fact did not accelerate the departure of his blessed daughter
+- daughter in the flesh and daughter in Christ.&nbsp; He could not measure
+the extent of that intercourse; the Searcher of hearts alone could do
+that, save the parties concerned; but, of course, as she was an unbeliever,
+they must fear the worst.&nbsp; For himself, he had felt that this was
+the root of everything.&nbsp; They would judge for themselves how fervently
+he must have appealed to the Mercy-seat, considering his position and
+relationship with his dear brother, before he had seen his way to take
+the present course; but at last God had revealed Himself to him, and
+he now committed the case to them.&nbsp; Might God have mercy on them,
+and His Spirit lead them.</p>
+<p>Mr. Allen and George had scarcely restrained themselves, and George,
+notwithstanding his father&rsquo;s injunction, leapt up before the concluding
+sentences were out of Mr. Broad&rsquo;s mouth.&nbsp; Mr. Scotton, however,
+rose, and Mr. Allen pulled George down.&nbsp; Mr. Scotton wished to
+say just one word.&nbsp; They could not, he was sure, overestimate the
+gravity of the situation.&nbsp; They were called together upon a most
+solemn occasion.&nbsp; Their worthy pastor had spoken as a minister
+of the gospel.&nbsp; He, Mr. Scotton, as a layman, wished just to remind
+them that they were exercising judicial functions - (Brother Bushel
+fidgeted and got very red) - and that it was necessary they should proceed
+in proper order.&nbsp; With regard to two of the charges, the evidence
+was fully before them; that is to say, absence from public worship and
+what might perhaps be thought want of consideration for the peace of
+the church. - (&ldquo;Praps,&rdquo; grunted Bushel - &ldquo;praps indeed.&rdquo;)
+- But with regard to the third charge, the evidence was <i>not</i> before
+them, and as this was the most important of the three he would suggest
+before going any farther that they should hear what Mr. Broad could
+produce.</p>
+<p>Brother Bushel objected.&nbsp; It was very seldom indeed that he
+offered any remarks in public; but this time he could not refrain, and
+introduced himself as follows:</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Brother Scotton says &lsquo;praps.&rsquo;&nbsp; I don&rsquo;t
+say &lsquo;praps,&rsquo; when people go settin&rsquo; class agin class.&nbsp;
+Praps nobody&rsquo;s windows was broke!&nbsp; Evidence!&nbsp; Hasn&rsquo;t
+our minister told us George Allen has been to London?&nbsp; He wouldn&rsquo;t
+tell us an untruth.&nbsp; Due respec&rsquo;, Brother Scotton - no lawyering
+- none of that - of them functions - &rsquo;specially when it&rsquo;s
+infidels and ricks may be afire - aught I know.&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Broad interposed.&nbsp; He quite understood Brother Bushel&rsquo;s
+ardour for the truth, but he was prepared to produce some simple corroboration
+of what he had affirmed, which would, he thought, satisfy Brother Scotton
+and the brethren generally.&nbsp; &ldquo;Thomas,&rdquo; quoth Mr. Broad,
+&ldquo;will you please step forward and say what you know?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Thomas thereupon advanced to the table, and said it would ill
+become him to expatiate on the present occasion.&nbsp; He would confine
+himself to obeying the mandate of his father.&nbsp; He then reported
+that he had been led to visit the Colemans at first as friends of the
+Allens, and not knowing their devilish tendencies.&nbsp; God had, however,
+he hoped, mercifully protected him.&nbsp; If it had not been for God&rsquo;s
+grace, where might he not have been that day?&nbsp; It was true that
+they were disciples of the French sceptic; his likeness was on the walls;
+his books were on the bookshelves!&nbsp; Mr. George Allen had been in
+the habit of associating not only with Mr. Coleman, but with the daughter,
+and with the daughter <i>alone</i>! as has already been stated.&nbsp;
+She was also an infidel - more so, perhaps, than her father; and Satan
+had a way, as they all knew, of instilling the deadly poison so seductively
+that unwary souls were often lost, lost, lost beyond recall, before
+they could truly be said to be aware of it.&nbsp; He wished, therefore,
+that evening to confess again, as, indeed, he had just confessed before,
+that by grace he had been saved.&nbsp; It is not of him that willeth,
+nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.&nbsp; He trembled
+to think how near he himself had been to the pit of destruction, lured
+by the devices of the great Enemy of Souls; but praise be to God he
+had been saved, not through own merits, but through the merits of his
+Redeemer.</p>
+<p>Mr. Broad purred with pleasure during this oration, and looked round
+on the audience for their approval.&nbsp; Mr. Allen was now completely
+quieted.&nbsp; The speech had acted like a charm.&nbsp; He rose immediately.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Broad,&rdquo; he said deliberately, but with much emphasis
+- you might have heard a pin drop - &ldquo;the value of the testimony
+just given depends upon character of the witness.&nbsp; May I ask him
+to explain <i>how he came by that scar on the back of his hand</i>?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Allen remained standing.&nbsp; There was no sign of an answer.&nbsp;
+He sat down for a moment but still there was no movement.&nbsp; He rose
+again.</p>
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Broad, as there is no reply, will you permit me to give
+the explanation?&rdquo;</p>
+<p>Mr. Thomas Broad then slowly erected himself near the table at which
+his father was sitting.&nbsp; He held on by it hard, and gulped down
+half a glass of water which was there.&nbsp; His tallowy face looked
+more tallowy than ever, and his voice shook most unpleasantly as he
+was just heard to say that he did not know with what object the question
+was put - that it - that it - seemed - seemed irrel - irrelev - and
+these were the last syllables ever heard from the lips of Mr. Thomas
+in Tanner&rsquo;s Lane, for he dropped into his seat and apparently
+fainted.&nbsp; There was great confusion while his recovery was attempted.&nbsp;
+He was conveyed into the chapel, more water was given him, smelling-salts
+applied, and in due time he regained his senses; but his father, on
+his return to the vestry, announced that after what had happened the
+meeting had perhaps better be adjourned.&nbsp; He felt it impossible
+to go any further just then.&nbsp; Tanner&rsquo;s Lane Church, therefore,
+departed, much musing, and was never again summoned on that business.&nbsp;
+Mr. Allen had some thoughts of demanding another meeting and a formal
+acquittal, but the pastor was suddenly struck with paralysis, and although
+he lingered for nearly two years, he preached no more.&nbsp; So it came
+to pass that George and his father are on the church books till this
+day.&nbsp; There was, of course, endless gossip as to the meaning of
+Mr. Allen&rsquo;s appeal.&nbsp; Whether George ever knew what it was
+is more than I can say, but it is certain that Cowfold never knew.&nbsp;
+Mr. Allen always resolutely repelled all questions, saying that it would
+be time enough to go further when he was next attacked.&nbsp; The Broads,
+mother and daughter, asserted that no doubt Thomas had a mark upon the
+back of his hand, but that it had been caused by a nail in a fence,
+and that he had fainted through indisposition.&nbsp; This theory, however,
+was obviously ridiculous, for Mr. Allen&rsquo;s reference had no meaning
+if Thomas had met with a simple accident.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad saw that
+her son&rsquo;s explanation, greatly as she trusted him, was weak, and
+at last Thomas, with Christian compunction, admitted that the fence
+was the palings of the College garden, over which he had once clambered
+when he was too late for admittance at the College gates.&nbsp; This
+was true.&nbsp; Mr. Thomas on the very evening of his interview with
+Pauline, had obtained admission over the palings, had been detected,
+and there had been an inquiry by the authorities; but the scar, as we
+know, had another origin.&nbsp; Mrs. Broad was compelled to circulate
+this story, and accompanied it with many apologies and much regret.&nbsp;
+It was the sorrow of her life, she said; but, at the same time, she
+must add that her son was delayed by no fault of his.&nbsp; The President
+had investigated the matter, and had contended himself with a reprimand.&nbsp;
+Her friends would understand that Thomas would prefer, under the circumstances,
+not to visit Cowfold again, and considering her dear husband&rsquo;s
+sickness, she could not advise that prosecution of the Allens should
+be pressed.</p>
+<p>Cowfold, however, was not satisfied.&nbsp; Mr. Allen would not, as
+a man of the world, have thought so much of such an indiscretion.&nbsp;
+Why was Mr. Thomas late?&nbsp; Cowfold could not endure simple suspense
+of judgment.&nbsp; Any theory, however wild, is more tolerable than
+a confession that the facts are not sufficient for a decision, and the
+common opinion, corroborated, it was declared, by surest testimony,
+was that Mr. Thomas had been to the theatre.&nbsp; There was not a tittle
+of evidence to support this story, but everybody was certain it was
+true.&nbsp; Everybody repeated it, and constant repetition will harden
+the loosest hearsay into a creed far more unshakable than faith in the
+law of gravity.</p>
+<p>Just before Mr. Broad&rsquo;s last illness, the secession of the
+Allens was imitated by about twenty of the younger members of the congregation,
+who met together on Sunday, under Mr. Allen&rsquo;s guidance, and worshipped
+by themselves, each of them in turn making some attempt at an exposition
+of the Bible and a short address.&nbsp; By the time Mr. Broad died Tanner&rsquo;s
+Lane had sunk very low; but when his successor was chosen the seceders
+exercised their rights, and were strong enough to elect a student fresh
+from college, who had taken an M.A. degree at the University of London.&nbsp;
+He preached his first sermon from the text, &ldquo;I am crucified with
+Christ,&rdquo; and told his hearers, with fluent self-confidence, that
+salvation meant perfect sympathy with Christ - &ldquo;Not I, but Christ
+liveth in me;&rdquo; that the office of Christ was not to reconcile
+God to man, but man to God; and this is effected in proportion as Christ
+dwells in us, bringing us more and more into harmony with the Divine.&nbsp;
+The Atonement is indeed the central doctrine, the pivot of Christianity,
+but it is an at<i>one</i>ment, a making of one mind.&nbsp; To which
+Tanner&rsquo;s Lane listened with much wonderment and not without uncomfortable
+mental disturbance, the elder members complaining particularly that
+this was not the simple gospel, and that the trumpet gave an uncertain
+sound.&nbsp; But opposition gradually died out; the meeting-house was
+rebuilt, and called Latimer Chapel.&nbsp; The afternoon service was
+dropped and turned into a service for the Sunday-school children; an
+organ was bought and a choir trained; the minister gave week-day lectures
+on secular subjects, and became a trustee of the Cowfold charity schools,
+recently enlarged under a new scheme.&nbsp; He brought home a wife one
+day who could read German; joined the County Arch&aelig;ological Society,
+and wrote a paper on the discoveries made when the railway station was
+built on what was supposed to be an ancient British encampment.&nbsp;
+For Cowfold was to become an important junction on the new line to the
+north, and Mr. Bushel&rsquo;s death had been accelerated by vexation
+through seeing a survey carried across his own fields.</p>
+<p>As for Mrs. Broad and Tryphosa, they left Cowfold and went into Lancashire,
+to be near uncle Flavel.&nbsp; George, notwithstanding the new doctrine
+in Latimer Chapel and the improvement in the Cowfold atmosphere, was
+restless, and before the revolution just described was completed, had
+been entirely overcome with a desire to emigrate with his child.&nbsp;
+His father and mother not only did not oppose, but decided to accompany.&nbsp;
+Mr. Allen had saved money, and though he and his wife were getting on
+in years, there was nothing in either of them of that subsidence into
+indifferent sloth which is the great mistake of advancing age.&nbsp;
+Both were keen in their desire to know the last new thing, eager to
+recognise the last new truth, forgetful of the past, dwelling in the
+present, and, consequently, they remained young.&nbsp; They were younger,
+at any rate, just now than George; and it was his, not exactly melancholy,
+but lack of zest for life, which mainly induced them so readily to assent
+to his plans.&nbsp; One bright June morning, therefore, saw them, with
+their children, on the deck of the Liverpool vessel which was to take
+them to America.&nbsp; Oh day of days, when after years of limitation,
+monotony, and embarrassment, we see it all behind us, and face a new
+future with an illimitable prospect!&nbsp; George once more felt his
+bosom&rsquo;s lord sit lightly on his throne; once more felt that the
+sunlight and blue sky were able to cheer him.&nbsp; So they went away
+to the West, and we take leave of them.</p>
+<p>What became of Zachariah and Pauline?&nbsp; At present I do not know.</p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div>
+<p>Footnotes:</p>
+<p><a name="footnote132"></a><a href="#citation132">{132}</a>&nbsp;
+&ldquo;O ze (ye) my feris (companions) and deir freyndis, quod he,<br />Of
+bywent perillis not ignorant ben we,<br />Ze have sustenit gretir dangeris
+unkend,<br />Like as hereof God sall make sone ane end:<br />The rage
+of Silla, that huge sweste (whirlpool) in the se<br />Ze have eschapit
+and passit eik (each) have ze:<br />The euer (pot) routand (roaring)
+Caribdis rokkis fell<br />The craggis quhare monstruous Cyclopes dwell:<br />Ze
+are expert: pluk up zour harts, I zou pray,<br />This dolorous drede
+expell and do away.<br />Sum tyme thereon to think may help perchance.&rdquo;<br />&nbsp;-
+<i>Gawin Douglas.</i></p>
+<p>&ldquo;Endure and conquer!&nbsp; Jove will soon dispose,<br />To
+future good, our past and present woes.<br />With me, the rocks of Scylla
+you have tried;<br />Th&rsquo; inhuman Cyclops, and his den defied.<br />What
+greater ills hereafter can you bear!<br />Resume your courage, and dismiss
+your care.<br />An hour will come, with pleasure to relate<br />Your
+sorrows past, as benefits of fate.&rdquo;<br /><i>- Dryden.</i></p>
+<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div>
+<p>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE REVOLUTION IN TANNER'S LANE ***</p>
+<pre>
+
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