have taken such measures as would have brought him to his
senses. He could do so lawfully, by and by. The law had sustained him
in dealing with much harder cases than Mr Fleming's, though it was not
altogether pleasant to remember some of them. But there could be no
question but that it would be for the interest of the Flemings, old and
young, were his terms agreed to. No one would have a right to say a
word, though he were to carry his point against the old man, and claim
what was his due.

All this he said to himself many times, but still he could not do it, at
least he could not bring himself to do it at once. His father, though
he acknowledged the unreasonableness of his friend, would yet be grieved
at the taking of extreme measures against him; his sister would be
indignant, and he was a little afraid of Elizabeth. The church union,
which he with all the rest of Gershom had earnestly desired, would be
endangered; for he knew by many tokens that some of the North Gore men
were hanging back because of him. Public opinion would not sustain him
in any steps taken against so old a man, and one who had seen so much
trouble since he came among them, and he did not wish to take severe
measures, he told himself many times. It is just possible that the
remembrance of the lad who had been his companion and friend, who had
been cut off in the flower of his youth, to the never-dying sorrow of
the old man who opposed him, had something to do with his hesitation in
this matter. But even to himself this was never acknowledged; all he
could do was to wait and see whether some sudden turn of events might
not serve to bring about his purpose better than severity could do.

In the meantime, after many thoughts about it, when the few scanty
fields on the Varney place were harvested, he did make a beginning. He
brought old Joe Middlemas to the place, who walked about with all the
appliances for surveying it, and for laying it out in building lots. He
had some trees cut down, and some hillocks levelled, and kept several
men for a time employed in bringing loads of stone to the river's bank,
in a way that looked very much like making a beginning. But the heavy
autumn rains put an end to all this for a while, and as yet there
existed no manufacturing company in Gershom, nor was there any immediate
prospect that the hopes of the people with regard to it were likely to
be realised.

"They're fine at speaking, grannie," said yo