nly presented
itself to him, asked his Dissenting assailant if he would not come in
and see the place. Reginald had the best of it in every way. It was he
who was the superior, holding out a hand of favour and kindness to one
who here at least, was beneath him in social consideration; and it was
he who was the assailed, and, so to speak, injured party, and who
nevertheless extended to his assailant a polite recognition, which,
perhaps, no one else occupying the same position would have given. He
was amused by his own magnanimity, and enjoyed it, and the pleasure of
heaping coals of fire upon his adversary's head was entirely delightful
to him.

"I know you do not approve of the place or me," he said, forgetting in
that moment of triumph all his own objections to it, and the ground upon
which these objections were founded. "Come in and see it, will you? The
chapel and the rooms are worth seeing. They are fair memorials of the
past, however little the foundation may be to your mind."

He laughed as he spoke, but without ill-humour; for it is easy to be
good-humoured when one feels one's self on the gaining, not the losing
side. As for Northcote, pride kept him from any demonstration of
unwillingness to look at what the other had to show. He would not for
worlds have betrayed himself. It was expedient for him, if he did not
mean to acknowledge himself worsted, to put on a good face and accept
the politeness cheerfully. So that it was on the very strength of the
conflict which made them first aware of each other's existence, that
they thus came together. The Dissenter declared his entire delight in
being taken to see the place, and with secret satisfaction, not easily
put into words, the Churchman led the way. They went to all the rooms
where the old men sat, some dozing by the fire, some reading, some busy
about small businesses; one had a turning-lathe, another was
illuminating texts, a third had a collection of curiosities of a
heterogeneous kind, which he was cleaning and arranging, writing neat
little labels in the neatest little hand for each article.

"The charity of our ancestors might have been worse employed," said
Reginald. "A home for the old and poor is surely as fine a kind of
benevolence as one could think of--if benevolence is to be tolerated at
all."

"Ye-es," said Northcote. "I don't pretend to disapprove of benevolence.
Perhaps the young who have a future before them, who can be of use to
their count