king about him!" said his sister.
"One time you seem to admire and like him extremely, and another"----

"Why, so I do. A capital fellow! He's weak, that's all. I don't mean
weak in the worst way, you know; a more honourable and trustworthy man
doesn't live. But--well, he's rather womanish, I suppose."

Mrs. Liversedge laughed.

"Many thanks! It's always so pleasing to a woman to hear that
comparison. Do you mean he reminds you of Mrs. Wade?"

The boy Tom, who had been attentive, broke into merriment.

"Uncle Denzil wouldn't dare to have said it in _her_ presence!" he
cried.

"Perhaps not," conceded Denzil, with a smile. "By-the-bye, is that
wonderful person still in Polterham?"

"Oh yes!" Mrs. Liversedge replied. "She has been very prominent lately."

"How?"

The lady glanced at her husband, who said quietly, "We'll talk over it
some other time."

But Tom was not to be repressed.

"Mother means that Revivalist business," he exclaimed. "Mrs. Wade went
against it."

"My boy, no meddling with things of that kind," said his father,
smiling, but firm. He turned to Denzil. "Has Glazzard exhibited
anything lately?"

"No; he gave up his modelling, and he doesn't seem to paint much
nowadays. The poor fellow has no object in life, that's the worst of
it."

The meal was nearly at an end, and presently the two men found
themselves alone at the table. Mr. Liversedge generally smoked a cigar
before returning for an hour or two to the soap-works.

"Any more wine?" he asked. "Then come into my snuggery and let us chat."

They repaired to a room of very homely appearance. The furniture was
old and ugly; the carpet seemed to have been beaten so often that it
was growing threadbare by force of purification. There was a fair
collection of books, none of very recent date, and on the walls several
maps and prints. The most striking object was a great stuffed bird that
stood in a glass-case before the window--a capercailzie shot by
Quarrier long ago in Norway, and presented to his brother-in-law.
Tobias settled himself in a chair, and kicked a coal from the bars of
the grate.

"Tom is very strong against religious fanaticism," he said, laughing.
"I have to pull him up now and then. I suppose you heard about the
crazy goings-on down here in the summer?"

"Not I. Revivalist meetings?"

"The whole town was turned upside down. Such frenzy among the women I
never witnessed. Three times a day they flocked in swarms to the