at's the other, Smith--no, Jones--Evans Jones? I shouldn't
wonder if he is of Welsh extraction."

"You will surely not stand passively by and hear a brave man slandered.
That would be unlike you, papa. No; you are bound to protest against the
falsehood."

"Am I indeed? Why? Because the slandered man, if he is slandered, is the
friend of my daughter's friend?"

"Exactly--that's quite sufficient for you to go upon--that and the
falsehood."

"If it is a falsehood."

"If--oh, papa--if?"

"If I have your personal guarantee that the statements are
unsubstantiated----"

"Now, you are beginning to jest. I cannot jest on so serious an issue.
Think of it--slaves--dynamite!"

"Both excellent words for missionaries to send home to England--almost
equal to opium and idols from the standpoint of the mission-box."

Phyllis was solemn for a moment; then she burst into a merry laugh that
only wanted a note of merriment to be delightful. Her father did not
miss that note. He was thinking of another phrase.

"Now, why shouldn't you say that or something like that, my father?"
cried the girl. "Something to set the House laughing before the Minister
of the Annexation Department has had time to reply? You can do it, you
know."

"I believe I could," said Mr. Ayrton thoughtfully. "But why, my child;
why?"

"Why! Why! Oh, if one only said good things when there was a reason for
saying them, how dull we should all be! Any stick for a dog--any jest is
good enough for the House of Commons."

"Yes; but suppose it is inferred that I am not on the side of the
missionaries? What about Hazelborough?"

Hazelborough was the constituency which Mr. Ayrton represented in the
House of Commons.

"My dear father, where would you be if you couldn't steer through the
Hazelborough prejudices now and again? You can always say something so
good as to make people not care which way it cuts."

"What? Oh, Phyllis! I am ashamed of you. Besides, the people of
Hazelborough have got to be extremely sensitive. They have caught the
Nonconformist Conscience. The bacillus of the Nonconformist Conscience
was rampant a short time ago, and it has not yet been stamped out. I'm
afraid that I must have principle on my side--some show of principle,
at any rate--not so wide as a church door or so deep as a well, but
still----"

"And you will, too, papa. I'll see Ella and get her to find out from Mr.
Courtland what is the truth."

"Well, perhaps it mightn't b