s wages, and the people do
not."

"I do not think that that influenced you," said Phineas.

"It did not influence me. To you I will make bold to state so much
positively, though it would be foolish, perhaps, to do so to others.
I did not go for the shilling, though I am so poor a man that the
shilling is more to me than it would be to almost any man in the
House. I took the shilling, much doubting, but guided in part by
this, that I was ashamed of being afraid to take it. They told
me,--Mr. Mildmay and the Duke,--that I could earn it to the benefit
of the country. I have not earned it, and the country has not been
benefited,--unless it be for the good of the country that my voice in
the House should be silenced. If I believe that, I ought to hold my
tongue without taking a salary for holding it. I have made a mistake,
my friend. Such mistakes made at my time of life cannot be wholly
rectified; but, being convinced of my error, I must do the best in my
power to put myself right again."

There was a bitterness in all this to Phineas himself of which he
could not but make plaint to his companion. "The truth is," he said,
"that a man in office must be a slave, and that slavery is
distasteful."

"There I think you are wrong. If you mean that you cannot do joint
work with other men altogether after your own fashion the same may be
said of all work. If you had stuck to the Bar you must have pleaded
your causes in conformity with instructions from the attorneys."

"I should have been guided by my own lights in advising those
attorneys."

"I cannot see that you suffer anything that ought to go against the
grain with you. You are beginning young, and it is your first adopted
career. With me it is otherwise. If by my telling you this I shall
have led you astray, I shall regret my openness with you. Could I
begin again, I would willingly begin as you began."

It was a great day in Killaloe, that on which Mr. Monk arrived with
Phineas at the doctor's house. In London, perhaps, a bishop inspires
more awe than a Cabinet Minister. In Killaloe, where a bishop might
be seen walking about every day, the mitred dignitary of the Church,
though much loved, was thought of, I fear, but lightly; whereas a
Cabinet Minister coming to stay in the house of a townsman was a
thing to be wondered at, to be talked about, to be afraid of, to be
a fruitful source of conversation for a year to come. There were
many in Killaloe, especially among