mewhat ponderous lady, who was the wife of a bishop, felt bound to
express her disapprobation.

"Do you really think, dear," she said, "that you are wise in encouraging
a charity which is not in any way under the control of the Church?"

"Oh, isn't it?" Sybil remarked. "I'm sure I didn't know. But then the
Church hasn't anything quite like this, has it? Mr. Brooks is so
clever and original in all his ideas."

The disapprobation of the bishop's wife became even more marked.

"The very fact," she said, "that the Church has not thought it wise to
institute a charitable scheme upon such--er--sweeping lines, is a proof,
to my mind, that the whole thing is a mistake. As a matter of fact, I
happen to know that the bishop strongly disapproves of Mr. Brooks'
methods."

"That's rather a pity, isn't it?" Sybil asked, sweetly. "The Society
has done so much good, and in so short a time. Every one admits that."

"I think that the opinion is very far from universal," the elder lady
remarked, firmly. "There appears to be no discrimination shown whatever
in the distribution of relief. The deserving and the undeserving are
all classed together. I could not possibly approve of any charity
conducted upon such lines, nor, I think, could any good churchwoman."

"Mr. Brooks thinks," Sybil remarked, with her mouth full of cake, "that
it is the undeserving who are in the greatest need of help."

"One could believe anything," the bishop's wife said stiffly, "of a man
who adopted such principles as that. And although I do not as a rule
approve of Mr. Lavilette or his paper, I am seriously inclined to agree
with him in some of his strictures upon Mr. Brooks."

Sybil laughed softly.

"I hadn't read them," she remarked. "Mother doesn't allow the man's
paper in the house. Do you really mean that you have it at the palace,
Mrs. Endicott?"

The bishop's wife stiffened.

"Mr. Lavilette has at times done great service to the community by his
exposure of frauds of all sorts, especially charitable frauds," she
said. "It is possible that he may shortly add to the number."

Lord Arranmore shook his head slowly.

"Mr. Lavilette," he said, "has also had to pay damages in one or two
rather expensive libel cases. And, between you and me, Mrs. Endicott,
if our young friend Brooks chose to move in the matter, I am afraid Mr.
Lavilette might have to sign the largest cheque he has ever signed in
his life for law costs."

The bishop's wife rose with