in speaking of the right that every poor man
hasn't. I could listen to you by the hour, sir, and learn the difference
between us and abroad."

"Tugwell, I could tell you things that would make a real man of you. But
why should I? You are better as you are; and so are we who get all the
good out of you. And besides, I have no time for politics at present.
All my time is occupied with stern business--collecting the ruins of my
property."

"But, sir--but you come down here sometimes from the castle in the
evening; and if I might cross, without claiming right of way, sometimes
I might have the luck to meet you."

"Certainly you may pass, as often as you please, and so may anybody who
sets value on his rights. And if I should meet you again, I shall be
glad of it. You can open my eyes, doubtless, quite as much as I can
yours. Good-night, my friend, and better fortunes to you!"

"It was worth my while to nail up those rails," Carne said to himself,
as he went home to his ruins. "I have hooked that clod, as firm as ever
he hooked a cod. But, thousand thunders! what does he mean, by going
away without touching his hat to me?"

CHAPTER XXVIII

FOUL IN PRACTICE

"I hope, my dear, that your ride has done you good," said the Rector's
wife to the Rector, as he came into the hall with a wonderfully red
face, one fine afternoon in October. "If colour proves health, you have
gained it."

"Maria, I have not been so upset for many years. Unwholesome indignation
dyes my cheeks, and that is almost as bad as indigestion. I have had
quite a turn--as you women always put it. I am never moved by little
things, as you know well, and sometimes to your great disgust; but
to-day my troubles have conspired to devour me. I am not so young as I
was, Maria. And what will the parish come to, if I give in?"

"Exactly, dear; and therefore you must not give in." Mrs. Twemlow
replied with great spirit, but her hands were trembling as she helped
him to pull off his new riding-coat. "Remember your own exhortations,
Joshua--I am sure they were beautiful--last Sunday. But take something,
dear, to restore your circulation. A reaction in the system is so
dangerous."

"Not anything at present," Mr. Twemlow answered, firmly; "these mental
cares are beyond the reach of bodily refreshments. Let me sit down, and
be sure where I am, and then you may give me a glass of treble X. In
the first place, the pony nearly kicked me off, when that idiot of a