ons by which he was surrounded,
but with a strong belief in the merits of his own class. He was a
sober, hardworking man, and he hated all men who were not sober and
hardworking. He was quite clear in his mind that all nobility should
be put down, and that all property in land should be taken away from
men who were enabled by such property to live in idleness. What
should be done with the land when so taken away was a question
which he had not yet learnt to answer. At the present moment he was
accustomed to say very hard words of Mr. Slide behind his back,
because of the change which had been effected in the _People's
Banner_, and he certainly was not the man to shrink from asserting
in a person's presence aught that he said in his absence. "Well, Mr.
Conservative Slide," he said, stepping into the little back parlour,
in which the editor was left while Mrs. Bunce went up to learn
whether the member of Parliament would receive his visitor.

"None of your chaff, Bunce."

"We have enough of your chaff, anyhow; don't we, Mr. Slide? I still
sees the _Banner_, Mr. Slide,--most days; just for the joke of it."

"As long as you take it, Bunce, I don't care what the reason is."

"I suppose a heditor's about the same as a Cabinet Minister. You've
got to keep your place;--that's about it, Mr. Slide."

"We've got to tell the people who's true to 'em. Do you believe
that Gresham 'd ever have brought in a Bill for doing away with the
Church? Never;--not if he'd been Prime Minister till doomsday. What
you want is progress."

"That's about it, Mr. Slide."

"And where are you to get it? Did you ever hear that a rose by any
other name 'd smell as sweet? If you can get progress from the
Conservatives, and you want progress, why not go to the Conservatives
for it? Who repealed the corn laws? Who gave us 'ousehold suffrage?"

"I think I've been told all that before, Mr. Slide; them things
weren't given by no manner of means, as I look at it. We just went in
and took 'em. It was hall a haccident whether it was Cobden or Peel,
Gladstone or Disraeli, as was the servants we employed to do our
work. But Liberal is Liberal, and Conservative is Conservative. What
are you, Mr. Slide, to-day?"

"If you'd talk of things, Bunce, which you understand, you would not
talk quite so much nonsense."

At this moment Mrs. Bunce entered the room, perhaps preventing a
quarrel, and offered to usher Mr. Slide up to the young member's
room. Phineas ha