and he had
the courage of his opinions. I doubt whether the Rev. Hampton-Evey would
go with a willing heart to prison for his. All the better for him if he
comes head-up out of a trial. But now see: all these parsons and judges
and mobcaps insist upon conformity. A man with common manly courage comes
before them, and he's cast in penalties. Yet we know from history, in
England, France, Germany, that the time of nonconformity brought out the
manhood of the nation. Now, I say, a nation, to be a nation, must have
men--I mean brave men. That's what those hosts of female men combine to
try to stifle. They won't succeed, but we shall want a war to teach the
country the value of courage. You catch what I am driving at? They accuse
my brother of immorality because he makes no pretence to be better than
the men of his class."

Weyburn's eyelids fluttered. Her kite-like ascent into the general, with
the sudden drop on her choice morsel, switched his humour at the moment
when he was respectfully considering that her dartings and gyrations had
motive as mach as the flight of the swallow for food. They had meaning;
and here was one of the great ladies of the land who thought for herself,
and was thoughtful for the country. If she came down like a bird winged,
it was her love of her brother that did it. His look at Lady Charlotte
glistened.

She raised her defences against the basilisk fascinating Philippa; and
with a vow to keep them apart and deprive him of his chance, she relapsed
upon the stiff frigidity which was not natural to her. It lasted long
enough to put him on his guard under the seductions of a noble dame's
condescension to a familiar tone. But, as he was too well bred to show
the change in his mind for her change of manner, and as she was the
sister of his boyhood's hero, and could be full of flavour, his eyes
retained something of their sparkle. They were ready to lighten again, in
the way peculiar to him, when she, quite forgetting her defence of
Philippa, disburdened herself of her antagonisms and enthusiasms, her
hates and her loves all round the neighbourhood and over the world, won
to confidential communication by this young man's face. She confessed as
much, had he been guided to perceive it. She said, "Arthur Abner's a
reader of men: I can trust his word about them."

Presently, it is true, she added: "No man's to be relied upon where
there's a woman." She refused her implicit trust to saints--"if ever a
man