tunity should be given
to the inhabitants of the village to make their escape if they so desire
it, and then, with the explosives that the force should carry, the end
can be practically instantaneous.

"For Himself, His Honour proposes to be there in person, and further
that the actual discharge should take place from His own car. It seems
but suitable that the world which has done His Honour the goodness to
elect Him to its Presidentship should act through His hands; and this
would be at least some slight token of respect to a superstition which,
however infamous, is yet the one and only force capable of withstanding
the true progress of man.

"His Honour promises you, gentlemen, that in the event of this plan
being carried out, we shall be no more troubled with Christianity.
Already the moral effect of the Test Act has been prodigious. It is
understood that, by tens of thousands, Catholics, numbering among them
even members of this new fanatical Religious Order, have been renouncing
their follies even in these few days; and a final blow struck now at the
very heart and head of the Catholic Church, eliminating, as it would do,
the actual body on which the entire organisation subsists, would render
its resurrection impossible. It is a well-known fact that, granted the
extinction of the line of Popes, together with those necessary for its
continuance, there could be no longer any question amongst even the most
ignorant that the claim of Jesus had ceased to be either reasonable or
possible. Even the Order that has provided the sinews for this new
movement must cease to exist.

"Dolgorovski, of course, is the difficulty, for it is not certainly
known whether one Cardinal would be considered sufficient for the
propagation of the line; and, although reluctantly, His Honour feels
bound to suggest that at the conclusion of the affair, Dolgorovski,
also, who will not, of course, be with his fellows at Nazareth, should
be mercifully removed from even the danger of a relapse....

"His Honour, then, asks you, gentlemen, as briefly as possible, to state
your views on the points of which I have had the privilege of speaking."

The quiet business-like voice ceased.

He had spoken throughout in the manner with which he had begun; his eyes
had been downcast throughout; his voice had been tranquil and
restrained. His deportment had been admirable.

There was an instant's silence, and all eyes settled steadily again upon
the moti