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the Liberation Society, and various other societies, coming to see that
Disestablishment was not a panacea for national evils any more than
other things. He was in the habit of quoting his brother-in-law,
Reginald May, as the best man he knew; but this did not make him a
Churchman; for naturally he could not say the same of other members of
the same class and family. He was shaken out of his strong opinions; but
it is doubtful how far this was good for him, for he was a man of
warlike disposition, and not to have something which he could go to the
stake for--something which he could think the devil's own stronghold to
assail, was a drawback to him, and cramped his mental development; but
he was happy in his home with his pretty Ursula, which is probably all
the reader will care to know. He paid Tozer's hundred and fifty pounds.
And he made no inquiries, and tried not to ask himself what all that
strange scene had meant--and whatever it did mean it was over for ever,
and nobody asked any further questions or made any revelations on the
subject. As for Mr. May, his mysterious illness went on for some time,
the doctors never venturing to put any name to it. It was "mental
shock," and perhaps aberration, though he was sane enough to calm down
after that incomprehensible scene. Mr. Simpson of the Bank had a good
guess at the secret of the enigma, but even Tozer got hazy about it
after a while, and though he knew that he had done Mr. May a wonderful
service, could scarcely have told what it was--and neither, when it was
all over, could the culprit have told. He got better and worse for about
a year, and then he died, his strength failing him without any distinct
reason, no one could tell how. Reginald got the living and stepped into
his father's place, making a home for the children, which sharp Janey
rules over, not so softly or steadily as Ursula, with a love of theories
and experiments not quite consistent with the higher graces of
housekeeping, yet with an honest meaning through it all. As the times
are so unsettled, and no one can tell what may become within a year of
any old foundation, the trustees have requested Reginald to retain his
chaplaincy at the old College; so that he is in reality a pluralist, and
almost rich, though they say the hardest-worked man in Carlingford. He
has his vagaries too, which no man can live without, but he is the
kindest guardian to his brothers and sisters, and bears with Janey's
freaks