to the challenge.

"I will be no party to the usual ignorant abuse of the Inquisition," he
said, firmly. "We live in days of license, and have no right to sit in
judgment on our forefathers."

"_Your_ forefathers," corrected the doctor. "Mine burned."

The Vicar first laughed; then grew serious. "Well, I'll allow you two
opinions on the Inquisition, but not--" he lifted a gesticulating
hand--"_not_ two opinions on mines which are death-traps for lack of a
little money to make them safe--_not_ on the kind of tyranny which says
to a man: 'Strike if you like, and take a week's notice at the same time
to give up your cottage, which belongs to the colliery'--or, 'Make a
fuss about allotments if you dare, and see how long you keep your berth
in my employment: we don't want any agitators here'--or maintains,
against all remonstrance, a brutal manager in office, whose rule crushes
out a man's self-respect, and embitters his soul!"

"You charge all these things against Marsham?"

"He--or, rather, his mother--has a large holding in collieries against
which I charge them."

"H'm. Lady Lucy isn't standing for West Brookshire."

"No matter. The son's teeth are set on edge. Marsham has been appealed
to, and has done nothing--attempted nothing. He makes eloquent Liberal
speeches, and himself spends money got by grinding the poor!"

"You make him out a greater fool than I believe him," said the doctor.
"He has probably attempted a great deal, and finds his power limited.
Moreover, he has been eight years member here, and these charges are
quite new."

"Because the spirit abroad is new!" cried the Vicar. "Men will no longer
bear what their fathers bore. The old excuses, the old pleas, serve no
longer. I tell you the poor are tired of their patience! The Kingdom of
Heaven, in its earthly aspect, is not to be got that way--no! 'The
violent take it by force!' And as to your remark about Marsham, half the
champions of democracy in this country are in the same box: prating
about liberty and equality abroad; grinding their servants and
underpaying their laborers at home. I know scores of them; and how any
of them keep a straight face at a public meeting I never could
understand. There is a French proverb that exactly expresses them--"

"I know," murmured the doctor, "I know. '_Joie de rue, douleur de
maison_.' Well, and so, to upset Marsham, you are going to let the
Tories in, eh?--with all the old tyrannies and briberies on their