paper because of his patriotic and bold conduct,
the fortune of the paper would be made. There is no better trade
than that of martyrdom, if the would-be martyr knows how far he may
judiciously go, and in what direction. All this Mr. Quintus Slide was
supposed to have considered very well.

And Phineas Finn knew that his enemy had also considered the nature
of the matters which he would have been able to drag into Court if
there should be a trial. Allusions, very strong allusions, had been
made to former periods of Mr. Finn's life. And though there was
but little, if anything, in the past circumstances of which he was
ashamed,--but little, if anything, which he thought would subject him
personally to the odium of good men, could they be made accurately
known in all their details,--it would, he was well aware, be
impossible that such accuracy should be achieved. And the story if
told inaccurately would not suit him. And then, there was a reason
against any public proceeding much stronger even than this. Whether
the telling of the story would or would not suit him, it certainly
would not suit others. As has been before remarked, there are former
chronicles respecting Phineas Finn, and in them may be found adequate
cause for this conviction on his part. To no outsider was this
history known better than to Mr. Quintus Slide, and therefore Mr.
Quintus Slide could dare almost to defy the law.

But not the less on this account were there many who told Phineas
that he ought to bring the action. Among these none were more eager
than his old friend Lord Chiltern, the Master of the Brake hounds,
a man who really loved Phineas, who also loved the abstract idea of
justice, and who could not endure the thought that a miscreant should
go unpunished. Hunting was over for the season in the Brake country,
and Lord Chiltern rushed up to London, having this object among
others of a very pressing nature on his mind. His saddler had to
be seen,--and threatened,--on a certain matter touching the horses'
backs. A draught of hounds were being sent down to a friend in
Scotland. And there was a Committee of Masters to sit on a moot
question concerning a neutral covert in the XXX country, of which
Committee he was one. But the desire to punish Slide was almost as
strong in his indignant mind as those other matters referring more
especially to the profession of his life. "Phineas," he said, "you
are bound to do it. If you will allow a fellow lik