that we need bring Jack and his love into this
dispute," said I.

"Only that it isn't too late, you know. Do you think that Jack could
be brought to lend an ear to it?"

Perish Jack! perish Eva! perish Jack's mother, before I would allow
myself to be bribed in this manner, to abandon the great object
of all my life! This was evidently Crasweller's purpose. He was
endeavouring to tempt me with his flocks and herds. The temptation,
had he known it, would have been with Eva,--with Eva and the genuine,
downright, honest love of my gallant boy. I knew, too, that at home
I should not dare to tell my wife that the offer had been made to
me and had been refused. My wife could not understand,--Crasweller
could not understand,--how strong may be the passion founded on the
conviction of a life. And honesty, simple honesty, would forbid
it. For me to strike a bargain with one already destined for
deposition,--that he should be withdrawn from his glorious, his
almost immortal state, on the payment of a bribe to me and my family!
I had called this man my friend and brother, but how little had the
man known me! Could I have saved all Gladstonopolis from imminent
flames by yielding an inch in my convictions, I would not have
done so in my then frame of mind; and yet this man,--my friend and
brother,--had supposed that I could be bought to change my purpose by
the pretty slopes and fat flocks of Little Christchurch!

"Crasweller," said I, "let us keep these two things separate; or
rather, in discussing the momentous question of the Fixed Period, let
us forget the loves of a boy and a girl."

"But the sheep, and the oxen, and the pastures! I can still make my
will."

"The sheep, and the oxen, and the pastures must also be forgotten.
They can have nothing to do with the settlement of this matter. My
boy is dear to me, and Eva is dear also, but not to save even their
young lives could I consent to a falsehood in this matter."

"Falsehood! There is no falsehood intended."

"Then there need be no bargain as to Eva, and no need for discussing
the flocks and herds on this occasion. Crasweller, you are sixty-six
now, and will be sixty-seven this time next year. Then the period of
your deposition will have arrived, and in the year following,--two
years hence, mind,--the Fixed Period of your departure will have
come."

"No."

"Is not such the truth?"

"No; you put it all on a year too far. I was never more than nine
years older tha