than lure her to feel one thing, and then to call it another
thing. Also there was no direct and vital injury, for she had never
loved him; though how far she had travelled towards that land of light
and trial she could never now declare. These thoughts flashed through
her mind as she stood looking at her father. Her tongue seemed
imprisoned, yet her soft and candid eyes conquered the austerity in the
old man's gaze.

Eglington spoke for her.

"Permit me to answer, neighbour," he said. "I wished to speak with
your daughter, because I am to be married soon, and my wife will, at
intervals, come here to live. I wished that she should not be shunned
by you and yours as I have been. She would not understand, as I do not.
Yours is a constant call to war, while all your religion is an appeal
for peace. I wished to ask your daughter to influence you to make it
possible for me and mine to live in friendship among you. My wife will
have some claims upon you. Her mother was an American, of a Quaker
family from Derbyshire. She has done nothing to merit your aversion."

Faith listened astonished and baffled. Nothing of this had he said to
her. Had he meant to say it to her? Had it been in his mind? Or was it
only a swift adaptation to circumstances, an adroit means of working
upon the sympathies of her father, who, she could see, was in a
quandary? Eglington had indeed touched the old man as he had not been
touched in thirty years and more by one of his name. For a moment the
insinuating quality of the appeal submerged the fixed idea in a mind to
which the name of Eglington was anathema.

Eglington saw his advantage. He had felt his way carefully, and he
pursued it quickly. "For the rest, your daughter asked what I was ready
to offer--such help as, in my new official position, I can give to
Claridge Pasha in Egypt. As a neighbour, as Minister in the Government,
I will do what I can to aid him."

Silent and embarrassed, the old man tried to find his way. Presently
he said tentatively: "David Claridge has a title to the esteem of all
civilised people." Eglington was quick with his reply. "If he succeeds,
his title will become a concrete fact. There is no honour the Crown
would not confer for such remarkable service."

The other's face darkened. "I did not speak, I did not think, of handles
to his name. I find no good in them, but only means for deceiving and
deluding the world. Such honours as might make him baronet, or duke,
w