am now far less disposed to accept them as even
imaginably true. Those who are enthusiastic for the spirit of the age
proceed on the principle of countenancing evil that good may some day
come of it. Such a position astonishes me. Is the happiness of a man now
alive of less account than that of the man who shall live two hundred.
years hence? Altruism is doubtless good, but only so when it gives pure
enjoyment; that is to say, when it is embraced instinctively. Shall I
frown on a man because he _cannot_ find his bliss in altruism and bid
him perish to make room for a being more perfect? What right have we to
live thus in the far-off future? Thinking in this way, I have a
profound dislike and distrust of this same progress. Take one feature
of it--universal education. That, I believe, works most patently for the
growing misery I speak of. Its results affect all classes, and all for
the worse. I said that I used to have a very bleeding of the heart for
the half-clothed and quarter-fed hangers-on to civilisation; I think far
less of them now than of another class in appearance much better off. It
is a class created by the mania of education, and it consists of those
unhappy men and women whom unspeakable cruelty endows with intellectual
needs whilst refusing them the sustenance they are taught to crave.
Another generation, and this class will be terribly extended, its
existence blighting the whole social state. Every one of these poor
creatures has a right to curse the work of those who clamour progress,
and pose as benefactors of their race.

'All that strikes me as very good and true,' remarked Hubert; 'but can
it be helped? Or do you refuse to believe in the modern conception of
laws ruling social development?'

'I wish I could do so. No; when I spoke of the right to curse, I should
have said, from their point of view. In truth, I fear we must accept
progress. But I cannot rejoice in it; I will even do what little I can
in my own corner to support the old order of things. You may be aware
that I was on very friendly terms with the Mutimers, that I even seemed
to encourage them in their Socialism. Yes, and because I felt that in
that way I could best discharge my duty. What I really encouraged was
sympathy and humanity. When Mutimer came asking me to be present at his
meetings I plainly refused. To have held apart from him and his
wife would have been as wrong in me as to publicly countenance their
politics.'

Mr. Wyv