faculties, and seeing
before him what he took to be a large concourse of people--composed in
reality of Joe Petty, Mrs. Petty, and the doctor--he thus addressed them
in a faint, feverish voice:

"The pressure of these times, ladies and gentlemen, brings to the fore
the most pushing and obstreperous blackguards. We have amongst us
persons who, under the thin disguise of patriotism, do not scruple to
bring hideous charges against public men. Such but serve the
blood-stained cause of our common enemies. Conscious of the purity of
our private lives, we do not care what is said of us so long as we can
fulfil our duty to our country. Abstinence from every form of spirituous
liquor has been the watchword of all public men since this land was first
threatened by the most stupendous cataclysm which ever hung over the
heads of a great democracy. We have never ceased to preach the need for
it, and those who say the contrary are largely Germans or persons lost to
a sense of decency." So saying, he threw off all the bedclothes, and
fell back with a groan.

"Easy, easy, my dear sir!" said the voice.

"Have you a pain in your back?"

"I shall not submit," returned our hero, "to the ministrations of a Hun;
sooner will I breathe my last."

"Turn him over," said the voice. And Mr. Lavender found himself on his
face.

"Do you feel that?" said the voice.

Mr. Lavender answered faintly into his pillow:

"It is useless for you to torture me. No German hand shall wring from me
a groan."

"Is there mania in his family?" asked the voice. At this cruel insult
Mr. Lavender, who was nearly smothered, made a great effort, and clearing
his mouth of the pillow, said:

"Since we have no God nowadays, I call the God of my fathers to witness
that there is no saner public man than I."

It was, however, his last effort, for the wriggle he had given to his
spine brought on a kind of vertigo, and he relapsed into unconsciousness.

V

IS CONVICTED OF A NEW DISEASE

Those who were assembled round the bed of Mr. Lavender remained for a
moment staring at him with their mouths open, while Blink growled faintly
from underneath.

"Put your hand here," said the doctor at last.

"There is a considerable swelling, an appearance of inflammation, and the
legs are a curious colour. You gave him three-quarters of a tumbler of
rum--how much honey?"

Thus addressed, Joe Petty, leaning his head a little to one side,
answered:

"Not 'alf a pot