e's
getten gumption to see as pollytics is pollytics. I'll tell yo' what,
lads, I'm comin' to th' opinion as happen theer's more sense i' some o'
th' gentry than we gi' em credit fur; they ha' not mich but book larnin
i' their heads, it's true, but they're noan so bad--some on 'em--if
yo're charytable wi' 'em."

"Who was thy friend i' coort, Sammy?" was asked next.

Sammy's fist went down upon the table with a force which made the mugs
dance and rattle.

"Now tha'rt comin' to the meat i' th' egg." he said. "Who should tha
think it wur 'at had th' good-will an' th' head to tak' th' business i'
hond?"

"It ud be hard to say."

"Why, it wur that little lass o' th' owd Parsen's again. Dom'd if she
wunnot run aw Riggan i' a twelvemonth. I dunnot know wkeer she getten
her head-fillin' fro' unless she robbed th' owd Parson, an' left his nob
standin' empty. Happen that's what's up wi' th' owd chap."

CHAPTER XXI - Derrick's Question

Derrick had had a great deal to think about of late. Affairs at the
mines had been troublesome, as usual, and he had been often irritated
by the stupidity of the men who were in authority over him. He began to
feel, moreover, that an almost impalpable barrier had sprung up between
himself and his nearest friend. When he came to face the matter, he was
obliged to acknowledge to himself that there were things he had kept
from Grace, though it had been without any positive intention of
concealment And, perhaps, being the sensitive fellow he had called
him, Grace had felt that there was something behind his occasional
abstraction and silence, and had shrunk within himself, feeling a trifle
hurt at Derrick's want of frankness and confidence.

Hardly a day passed in which he did not spend some short time in the
society of his Pythias. He rarely passed his lodgings without dropping
in, and, to-night, he turned in on his way from the office, and fell
upon Grace hard at work over a volume of theology.

"Lay your book aside," he said to him. "I want to gossip this evening,
old fellow."

Grace closed his book and came to his usual seat, smiling
affectionately. There was a suggestion of feminine affectionateness in
his bearing toward his friend.

"Gossip," he remarked. "The word gos-sip----

"Oh," put in Derrick, "it's a woman's word; but I am in a womanish sort
of humor. I am going to be--I suppose, one might say--confidential."

The Reverend Paul reddened a little but as Derrick rather