o continue the fight till he should have
succeeded in bringing the lamb back to the pleasant pastures of
Littlebath. But Mr Maguire found some difficulty in carrying out his
pledge. He was willing enough to fight, but the weapons with which
to do battle were wanting to him. The _Christian Examiner_, having
got so far into the mess, and finding that a ready sale did in
truth result from any special article as to the lion and the lamb,
was indeed ready to go on with the libel. The _Christian Examiner_
probably had not much to lose. But there arose a question whether
fighting simply through the columns of the _Christian Examiner_ was
not almost tantamount to no fight at all. He wanted to bring an
action against Sir John Ball, to have Sir John Ball summoned into
court and examined about the money, to hear some truculent barrister
tell Sir John Ball that he could not conceal himself from the scorn
of an indignant public behind the spangles of his parvenu baronetcy.
He had a feeling that the lion would be torn to pieces, if only a
properly truculent barrister could be got to fix his claws into him.
But, unfortunately, no lawyer,--not even Solomon Walker, the Low
Church attorney at Littlebath,--would advise him that he had any
ground for an action. If indeed he chose to proceed against the lady
for a breach of promise of marriage, then the result would depend
on the evidence. In such case as that the Low Church attorney at
Littlebath was willing to take the matter up. "But Mr Maguire was,
of course, aware," said Solomon Walker, "that there was a prejudice
in the public mind against gentlemen appearing as parties to such
suits." Mr Maguire was also aware that he could adduce no evidence of
the fact beyond his own unsupported, and, in such case, untrue word,
and declared therefore to the attorney, in a very high tone indeed,
that on no account would he take any step to harass the lady. It was
simply against Sir John Ball that he wished to proceed. "Things would
come out in that trial, Mr Walker," he said, "which would astonish
you and all the legal world. A rapacious scheme of villainy has been
conceived and brought to bear, through the stupidity of some people
and the iniquity of others, which would unroll itself fold by fold as
certainly as I stand here, if it were properly handled by a competent
barrister in one of our courts of law." And I think that Mr Maguire
believed what he was saying, and that he believed, moreover, that