me that Eva was nearly
as fond of him. And then the sly rogue had found the certain way to
obtain old Crasweller's consent. Grundle had thought that if he could
once see his father-in-law deposited, he would have nothing to do but
to walk into Little Christchurch as master. That was the accusation
generally made against him in Gladstonopolis. But Jack, who did not,
as far as I could see, care a straw for humanity in the matter, had
vehemently taken the side of the Anti-Fixed-Periodists as the safest
way to get the father's consent. There was a contract of marriage,
no doubt, and Grundle would be entitled to take a quarter of the
father's possessions if he could prove that the contract had been
broken. Such was the law of Britannula on the subject. But not a
shilling had as yet been claimed by any man under that law. And
Crasweller no doubt concluded that Grundle would be unwilling to bear
the odium of being the first. And there were clauses in the law which
would make it very difficult for him to prove the validity of the
contract. It had been already asserted by many that a girl could
not be expected to marry the man who had endeavoured to destroy her
father; and although in my mind there could be no doubt that Abraham
Grundle had only done his duty as a senator, there was no knowing
what view of the case a jury might take in Gladstonopolis. And then,
if the worst came to the worst, Crasweller would resign a fourth of
his property almost without a pang, and Jack would content himself in
making the meanness of Grundle conspicuous to his fellow-citizens.

And now I must confess that, as I sat alone in my library, I did
hesitate for an hour as to my future conduct. Might it not be better
for me to abandon altogether the Fixed Period and all its glories?
Even in Britannula the world might be too strong for me. Should I
not take the good things that were offered, and allow Jack to marry
his wife and be happy in his own way? In my very heart I loved him
quite as well as did his mother, and thought that he was the finest
young fellow that Britannula had produced. And if this kind of thing
went on, it might be that I should be driven to quarrel with him
altogether, and to have him punished under the law, like some old
Roman of old. And I must confess that my relations with Mrs Neverbend
made me very unfit to ape the Roman _paterfamilias_. She never
interfered with public business, but she had a way of talking about
household