s which result
from it. The book has given me a stronger impulse than anything I've
read for years. It carries conviction with it. It clears one's mind of
all sorts of doubts and hesitations. I always kicked at the democratic
idea; now I know that I was right."

"Ah! Perhaps so. These questions are very difficult--By the bye, Dyce,
I want to speak to you about a matter that has been rather troubling me
of late. Let us get it over now, shall we?"

Dyce's animated look faded under a shadow of uneasiness. He regarded
the vicar steadily, with eyes which gathered apprehension.

"It's very disagreeable," pursued Mr. Lashmar, after puffing a pipe
unlit. "I'm afraid it'll be no less so to you than to me. I've
postponed the necessity as long as I could. The fact is, Dyce, I'm
getting pinched in my finances. Let me tell you just how matters stand."

The son listened to an exposition of his father's difficulties; he had
his feet crossed, his head bent, and the pipe hanging from his mouth.
At the first silence, he removed his pipe and said quietly:

"It's plain that my allowance must stop. Not another word about that,
father. You ought to have spoken before; I've been a burden to you."

"No, no, my dear boy! I haven't felt it till now. But, as you see,
things begin to look awkward. Do you think you can manage?"

"Of course I can. Don't trouble about me for a moment. I have my
hundred and fifty a year from Mrs. Woolstan, and that's quite enough
for a bachelor. I shall pick up something else. In any case, I've no
right to sponge on you; I've done it too long. If I had had the
slightest suspicion--"

A sense of virtue lit up Dyce's countenance again. Nothing was more
agreeable to him than the uttering of generous sentiments. Having
reassured his father, he launched into a larger optimism.

"Don't Suppose that I have taken your money year after year without
thinking about it. I couldn't have gone on like that if I hadn't felt
sure that some day I should pay my debt. It's natural enough that you
and mother should feel a little disappointed about me, I seem to have
done nothing, but, believe me, I am not idle. Money-making, I admit,
has never been much in my mind; all the same, I shall have money enough
one of these days, and before very long. Try to have faith in me. If it
were necessary, I shouldn't mind entering into an obligation to furnish
such and such a sum yearly by when I am thirty years old. It's a thing
I never said