ut the best of my farmers!"

Mr. Pope inclined, with the half of an embarrassed smile. As an agent,
he felt any such appreciation of a tenant to be, if not dangerous, at
least uncalled for, liable to be misinterpreted. He contented himself
with answering--in a murmur--that Mr. Tregarthen had given the estate
in the past every satisfaction; that it would surprise him indeed if
(at this time of day) Mr. Tregarthen were (of all men) to raise
trouble.

But the Lord Proprietor, as a master of men, brushed this hesitancy
aside, and with jovial tact. "A first-rate fellow," he insisted. "One
of our best! Only pig-headed, as the best always are. And so, when I
offer him a choice of two farms, each better than his present one, he
must needs take it into his head that I'm doing him an injury. Such a
man"--here Sir Caesar wagged a forefinger at the accused--"needs to be
protected against himself. Such a man needs to be told--and pretty
straight--that he is injuring others besides himself, and that, as I
have authority in these Islands, so I owe it to my conscience to forbid
his letting his children grow into little savages."

Eli Tregarthen looked up as though a stone had struck him. The colour
on his face darkened. Hitherto (though suffering from it) he had not
argued, even in his own mind, against Sir Caesar's evicting him from
Saaron. He had resented it, as one resents mere brute force; but he had
not argued with that which had never presented itself as resting upon
argument.... Though he knew himself to be a slow-witted man, Eli had a
clear sense of his wife's wisdom, and that wisdom irradiated for him
any argument which came--as this accusation of neglecting the children
surely came--within range of Ruth.

"If you dare to say that again," said Eli, "I'll knock your head off."

All three of them heard it--the Lord Proprietor, Mr. Pope, and old
Abe--though neither could believe his ears. For Eli had spoken quite
quietly and distinctly. Mr. Pope was the first to recover; but before
he could get in a word, Eli was following up the attack--still not
hastily, still with a slow pause on every word.

"You? What do you know of children, that never had a child? And what do
you know of Saaron or any other island, that never took your life here
nor made your living? You fill your pockets in a London shop; you go
off to an auction, and there you bid for these Islands, that you've
never seen. But what did you buy, you little man, over