e fact that
the old school have cold roast beef on the Sabbath, and the new school
have hot roast beef on Sunday. But doubtless both unite on hell for other
sects."

The rector's quick laugh was silenced by the game, but at the next pause
he hastened to tell them what John Ward had said of slavery. "Fancy such
a speech!" he cried, his face growing red at the remembrance. "Under the
circumstances, I couldn't tell him what I thought of him; but I had my
opinion. I wonder," he went on, rattling a bunch of keys in his pocket,
"what would be the attitude of a mind like his in politics? Conservative
to the most ridiculous degree, I imagine. Of course, to a certain extent,
it is proper to be conservative. I am conservative myself; I don't like
to see the younger generation rushing into things because they are new,
like Gifford,--calling himself a Democrat. I beg your pardon, Miss
Deborah, for finding fault with the boy."

"Ah, doctor, ladies don't understand politics," answered Miss Deborah
politely.

"But really," said the rector, "for a boy whose father died for the
Union, it's absurd, you know, perfectly absurd. But Ward! one can't
imagine that he would ever change in anything, and that sort of
conservatism can be carried too far."

"Well, now," said Mr. Denner, "I should say, I should be inclined to
think, it would be just the opposite, quite--quite the contrary. From
what you say, doctor, it seems to me more likely that he might be an
anarchist, as it were. Yes, not at all a conservative."

"How so?" asked the rector. "A man who would say such a thing as that the
Bible, his interpretation of it, was to decide all questions of duty (a
pretty dangerous thing that, for a man must have inclinations of his own,
which would be sure to color his interpretation! What?), and who would
bring all his actions down to its literal teachings without regard to
more modern needs? No, Denner; you are wrong there."

"Not altogether," Mr. Dale demurred in his gentle voice. "Ward would
believe in a party only so long as it agreed with his conscience, I
should suppose, and his conscience might make him--anything. And
certainly the Bible test would not leave him content with democracy,
doctor. Communism is literal Christianity. I can fancy he would leave any
party, if he thought its teachings were not supported by the Bible. But I
scarcely know him; my opinion is very superficial."

"Why do you express it, then?" said Mrs. Dale. "Don't