Felix Holt, the radical
Eliot, George, 1819-1880
TOT /I 10& tORGE ELK l^T- k^ >f^^^ m^ ?rf^ ^#^ vj/:'-"^ -M'^ <fn':-'^ A/^.'. :rryi^% ;-^-j ■yij FELIX HOLT ' Upon the midlands now the industrious muse doth fall. The shires which we the heart of England well may call. My native country thou, which so brave spirits hast bred. If there be virtues yet remaining in thy earth, Or any good of thine thou bred'st into my birth. Accept it as thine own, whilst now I sing of thee. Of all thy later brood the unworthiest though I be." Drayton : PolyoWion. FELIX HOLT THE RADICAL BY GEORGE ELIOT AtTTHOR OF 'ADAM BEDE,' ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. IL WILLIAM BLACKWOOD A:N^D SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXVI The Right of Trantlation is reserved Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/felixholtradical02eliorich FELIX HOLT, THE EADICAL. CHAPTEE XV. And doubt shall be as lead upon tlie feet Of thy most anxious will. Mk Lyon was careful to look in at Felix as soon as possible after Christian's departure, to tell him that his trust was discharged. During the rest of the day he was somewhat relieved from agitating re- flections by the necessity of attending to his minis- terial duties, the rebuke of rebellious singers being one of them; and on his return from the Monday evening prayer-meeting he was so overcome with weariness that he went to bed without taking note of any objects in his study. But when he rose the VOL. II. A 2 FELIX HOLT next morning, his mind, once more eagerly active, was arrested by Philip Debarry's letter, which still lay open on his desk, and was arrested by precisely that portion which had been unheeded the day before : — " / shall consider Triyself doubly fortunate if at any time you can point out to me some method by which I may procure you as lively a satisfac- tion as I am now feeling, in that full and speedy relief from anxiety which I owe to your considerate conduct!* To understand how these words could carry the suggestion they actually had for the minister in a crisis of peculiar personal anxiety and struggle, we must bear in mind that for many years he had walked through life with the sense of having for a space been unfaithful to what he esteemed the highest trust ever committed to man — the minis- terial vocation. In a mind of any nobleness, a lapse into transgression against an object still regarded as supreme, issues in a new and purer devotedness, chastised by humility and watched over by a pas- sionate regret. So it was with that ardent spirit which animated the little body of Kufus Lyon. Once in his life he had been blinded, deafened, hurried along by rebellious impulse ; he had gone astray after his own desires, and had let the fire die THE RADICAL. 3 out on the altar ; and as the true penitent, hating his self-besotted error, asks from all coming life duty instead of joy, and service instead of ease, so Eufus was perpetually on the watch lest he should ever again postpone to some private affection a great public opportunity which to him was equiva- lent to a command. Now here was an opportunity brought by a combination of that unexpected incalculable kind which might be regarded as the Divine emphasis invoking especial attention to trivial events — an opportunity of securing what Eufus Lyon had often wished for as a means of honouring truth, and exhibiting error in the character of a stam- mering, halting, short-breathed usurper of office and dignity. What was more exasperating to a zealous preacher, with whom copious speech was not a difficulty but a relief — who never lacked argument, but only combatants and listeners — than to reflect that there were thousands on thousands of pulpits in this kingdom, supplied with handsome sounding-boards, and occupying an advantageous position in buildings far larger than the chapel in Malthouse Yard — buildings sure to be places of resort, even as the markets were, if only from habit and interest ; and that these pulpits were filled, or 4 FELIX HOLT, rather made vacuous, by men whose privileged edu- cation in the ancient centres of instruction issued in twenty minutes' formal reading of tepid exhorta- tion or probably infirm deductions from premises based on rotten scaffolding? And it is in the nature of exasperation gradually to concentrate itself. The sincere antipathy of a dog towards cats in general, necessarily takes the form of indignant barking at the neighbour's black cat which makes daily tres- pass ; the bark at imagined cats, though a fre- quent exercise of the canine mind, is yet compara- tively feeble. Mr Lyon's sarcasm was not without an edge when he dilated in general on an elaborate education for teachers which issued in the minimum of teaching, but it found a whetstone in the par- ticular example of that bad system known as the Eector of Treby Magna. There was nothing positive to be said against the Eev. Augustus Debarry ; his life could not be pronounced blameworthy except for its negatives. And the good Eufus was too pure-minded not to be glad of that. He had no delight in vice as discrediting wicked opponents ; he shrank from dwelling on the images of cruelty or of grossness, and his indignation was habitually in- spired only by those moral and intellectual mistakes which darken the soul but do not injure or degrade THE RADICAL. 5 the temple of the body. Here, then, was the longed-for opportunity. Here was an engagement — an expression of a strong wish — on the part of Philip Debarry, if it were in his power, to procure a satisfaction to Rufus Lyon. How had that man of God and exemplary Independent minister, Mr Ainsworth, of persecuted sanctity, con- ducted himself when a similar occasion had befallen 6 FELIX HOLT, him at Amsterdam? He had thought of nothing but the glory of the highest cause, and had con- verted the offer of recompense into a public debate with a Jew on the chief mysteries of the faith. Here was a model : the case was nothing short of a heavenly indication, and he, Eufus I^yon, would seize the occasion to demand a public debate with the Eector on the Constitution of the true Church. What if he were inwardly torn by doubt and anxiety concerning his own private relations and the facts of his past life ? That danger of absorption within the narrow bounds of self only urged him the more towards action which had a wider bearing, and might tell on the welfare of England at large. It was decided. Before the minister went down to his breakfast that morning he had written the fol- lowing letter to Mr Philip Debarry : — Sir, — Referring to your letter of yesterday, I find the following words : " I shall considermyself doubly fortunate if at any time you can point out to me some method by which I may procure you as lively a satisfaction as I am now feeling, in that fidl and speedy relief from anxiety which I owe to your con- siderate conduct" I am not unaware, sir, that, in the usage of the THE RADICAL. 7 world, there are words of courtesy (so called) which are understood, by those amongst whom they are cur- rent, to have no precise meaning, and to constitute no bond or obligation. I will not now insist that this is an abuse of language, wherein our fallible nature re- quires the strictest safeguards against laxity and mis- application, for I do not apprehend that in writing the words I have above quoted, you were open to the reproach of using phrases which, while seeming to carry a specific nneaning, were really no more than what is called a polite form. I believe, sir, that you used these words advisedly, sincerely, and with an honourable intention of acting on them as a pledge, should such action be demanded. No other supposi- tion on my part would correspond to the character you bear as a young man who aspires (albeit mis- takenly) to engraft the finest fruits of public virtue on a creed and institutions, whereof the sap is com- posed rather of human self-seeking than of everlasting truth. Wherefore I act on this my belief in the integrity of your written word ; and I beg you to procure for me (as it is doubtless in your power) that I may be allowed a public discussion with your near relative, the Rector of this parish, the Reverend Augustus De- barry, to be held in the large room of the Free School, 8 FELIX HOLT, or in the Assembly Room of the Marquis of Granby, these being the largest covered spaces at our command. For I presume he would neither allow me to speak within his church, nor woidd consent himself to speak within my chapel; and the probable inclemency of the approaching season forbids an assured expectation that we could discourse in the open air. The subjects I desire to discuss are,^first, the Constitution of the true Church; and, secondly, the bearing thereupon of the English Reformation. Confidently expecting that you will comply with this request, which is the se- quence of your expressed desire^ I remain, sir, yours, with the respect offered to a sincere withstander, JRUFUS LYON. MaltTwuse Yard. After writing this letter, the good Rufus felt that serenity and elevation of mind which is in- fallibly brought by a preoccupation with the wider relations of things. Already he was beginning to sketch the course his argument might most judi- ciously take in the coming debate ; his thoughts were running into sentences, and marking off care- ful exceptions in parentheses; and he had come down and seated himself at the breakfast-table quite automatically, without expectation of toast THE RADICAL. 9 or coffee, when Esther's voice and touch recalled him to an inward debate of another kind, in which he felt himself much weaker. Again there arose before him the image of that cool, hard-eyed, worldly man, who might be this dear child's father, and one against whose rights he had him- self grievously offended. Always as the image recurred to him Mr Lyon's heart sent forth a prayer for guidance, but no definite guidance had yet made itself visible for him. It could not be guidance — it was a temptation — ^that said, " Let the matter rest : seek to know no more ; know only what is thrust upon you." The remembrance that in his time of wandering he had wilfully remained in ignorance of facts which he might have inquired after, deepened the impression that it was now an imperative duty to seek the fullest attainable knowledge. And the inquiry might possibly issue in a blessed repose, by putting a negative on all his suspicions. But the more vividly all the circumstances became present to liim, the more unfit he felt himself to set about any investigation concerning this man who called himself Maurice Christian. He could seek no con- fidant or helper among " the brethren ; " he was obliged to admit to himself that the members of 10 FELIX HOLT, his church, with whom he hoped to go to heaven, were not easy to converse with on earth touching the deeper secrets of his experience, and were still less able to advise him as to the wisest procedure, in a case of high delicacy, with a worldling who had a carefully -trimmed whisker and a fashion- able costume. Esther noticed that her father was in a fit of abstraction, that he seemed to swallow his coffee and toast quite unconsciously, and that he vented from time to time a low guttural interjection, which was habitual with him when he was ab- sorbed by an inward discussion. She did not dis- turb him by remarks, and only wondered whether anything unusual had occurred on Sunday even- ing. But at last she thought it needful to say, " You recollect what I told you yesterday, father ? " " Nay, child ; what ? " said Mr Lyon, rousing himself THE RADICAL. 11 " That Mr Jermyn asked me if you would pro- bably be at home this morning before one o'clock." Esther was surprised to see her father start and cliange colour as if he had been shaken by some sudden collision before he answered, " Assuredly ; I do not intend to move from my study after I have once been out to give this letter to Zachary." " Shall I tell Lyddy to take him up at once to your study if he comes ? If not, I shall have to stay in my own room, because I shall be at home all this morning, and it is rather cold now to sit without a fire." " Yes, my dear, let him come up to me ; unless, in- deed, he should bring a second person, which might happen, seeing that in all likelihood he is coming, as hitherto, on electioneering business. And I could not well accommodate two visitors up-stairs." While Mr Lyon went out to Zachary, the pew- opener, to give him a second time the commission of carrying a letter to Treby Manor, Esther gave her injunction to Lyddy that if one gentleman came he was to be shown up-stairs — if two, they were to be shown into the parlour. Esther always avoided asking questions of Lyddy, who found an answer as she found a key, by pour- ing out a pocketful of miscellanies. But she had remarked so many indications that something had happened to cause her father unusual excitement and mental preoccupation, that she could not help connecting with them the fact of this visit from the Manor, which he had not mentioned to her. She sat down in the dull parlour and took up her netting; for since Sunday she had felt unable to read when she was alone, being obliged, in spite of herself, to think of Eelix Holt^to imagine what he would like her to be, and what sort of views he took of life so as to make it seem valuable in the absence of all elegance, luxury, gaiety, or romance. Had he yet reflected that he had behaved very THE EADICAL. 13 rudely to her on Sunday ? Perhaps not. Perhaps he had dismissed her from his mind with contempt. And at that thought Esther's eyes smarted unpleas- antly. She was fond of netting, because it showed to advantage both her hand and her foot; and across this image of Felix Holt's indifference and contempt there passed the vaguer image of a possible some- body who would admire her hands and feet, and delight in looking at their beauty, and long, yet not dare, to kiss them. life would be much easier in the presence of such a love. But it was precisely this longing after her own satisfaction that Felix had reproached her with. Did he want her to be heroic? That seemed impossible without some great occasion. Her life was a heap of fragments, and so were her thoughts : some great energy was needed to bind them together. Esther was begin- ning to lose her complacency at her own wit and criticism; to lose the sense of superiority in an awakening need for reliance on one whose vision was wider, whose nature was purer and stronger than her own. But then, she said to herself, that " one " must be tender to her, not rude and predom- inating in his manners. A man with any chivalry in him could never adopt a scolding tone towards a woman — that is, towards a charming woman. But 14 FELIX HOLT. Felix had no chivalry in him. He loved lecturing and opinion too well ever to love any woman. In this way Esther strove to see that Felix was thoroughly in the wrong — at least, if he did not come again expressly to show that he was sorry. CHAPTEE XVI. Tmebltie. These men have no votes. Why should I court them ? Greyfox. No votes, but power. Trueblue. What ! over charities ? Greyfox. No, over brains ; which disturbs the canvass. In a natural state of things the average price of a vote at Paddlebrook is nine-and-sixpence, throwing the fifty-pound tenants, who cost nothing, into the divisor. But these talking men cause an artificial rise of prices. The expected important knock at the door came about twelve o'clock, and Esther could hear that there were two visitors. Immediately the parlour door was opened and the shaggy-haired, cravatless image of Felix Holt, which was just then full in the mirror of Esther's mind, was displaced by the highly-contrasted appearance of a personage whose name she guessed before Mr Jermyn had announced it. The perfect morning costume of that day dif- fered much from our present ideal : it was essential that a gentleman's chin should be well propped, that his coUar should have a voluminous roll, that his waistcoat should imply much discrimination, and that his buttons should be arranged in a 16 FELIX HOLT, manner which would now expose him to general contempt. And it must not be forgotten that at the distant period when Treby Magna first knew the excitements of an election, there existed many other anomalies now obsolete, besides short- waisted coats and broad stiifeners. But we have some notions of beauty and fitness, which withstand the centuries ; and quite irrespec- tive of dates, it would be pronounced that at the age of thirty-four Harold Transome was a striking and handsome man. He was one of those people, as Denner had remarked, to whose presence in the room you could not be indifferent : if you do not hate or dread them, you must find the touch of their hands, nay, their very shadows, agreeable. Esther felt a pleasure quite new to her as she saw his finely - embrowned face and full bright eyes turned towards her with an air of deference by which gallantry must commend itself to a refined woman who is not absolutely free from vanity. Harold Transome regarded women as slight things, but he was fond of slight things in the intervals of business; and he held it among the chief arts of life to keep these pleasant diversions within such bounds that they should never inter- fere with the course of his serious ambition. THE RADICAL. 17 Esther was perfectly aware, as he took a chair near her, that he was under some admiring surprise at her appearance and manner. How could it be otherwise ? She believed that in the eyes of a high- bred man no young lady in Treby could equal her : she felt a glow of delight at the sense that she was being looked at. " My father expected you," she said to Mr Jermyn. " I delivered your letter to him yester- day. He will be down immediately." She disentangled her foot from her netting and wound it up. '*I hope you are not going to let us disturb you," said Harold, noticing her action. " We come to discuss election affairs, and we particularly desire to interest the ladies." " I have no interest with any one who is not already on the right side," said Esther, smiling. " I am happy to see at least that you wear the Liberal colours." "I fear I must confess that it is more from love of blue than from love of Liberalism. Yellow opinions could only have brunettes on their side." Esther spoke with her usual pretty fluency, but she had no sooner uttered the words than she thought how angry they would have made Felix. VOL. IL B 18 FELIX HOLT, " If my cause is to be recommended by the be- comingness of my colours, then I am sure you are acting in my interest by wearing them." Esther rose to leave the room. "Must you really go?" said Harold, preparing to open the door for her. '* Yes ; I have an engagement — a lesson at half- past twelve," said Esther, bowing and floating out like a blue-robed Naiad, but not without a suffused blush as she passed through the doorway. It was a pity the room was so small, Harold Transome thought: this girl ought to walk in a house where there were halls and corridors. But he had soon dismissed this chance preoccupation with Esther ; for before the door was closed again Mr Lyon had entered, and Harold was entirely bent on what had been the object of his visit. The minister, though no elector himself, had consider- able influence over Liberal electors, and it was the part of wisdom in a candidate to cement all political adhesion by a little personal regard, if possible. Garstin was a harsh and wiry fellow ; he seemed to suggest that sour whey, which some say was the original meaning of Whig in the Scottish, and it might assist the theoretic advantages of Eadicalism if it could be associated with a more generous pre- THE RADICAL. 19 sence. What would conciliate the personal regard of old Mr Lyon became a curious problem to Harold, now the little man made his appearance. But can- vassing makes a gentleman acquainted with many strange animals, together with the ways of catching and taming them ; and thus the knowledge of natural histor}^ advances amongst the aristocracy and the wealthy commoners of our land. " I am very glad to have secured this opportunity of making your personal acquaintance, Mr Lyon," said Harold, putting out his hand to the minister when Jermyn had mentioned his name. " I am to address the electors here, in the Market-Place, to- morrow; and I should have been sorry to do so without first paying my respects privately to my chief friends, as there may be points on which they particularly wish me to explain myself" " You speak civilly, sir, and reasonably," said Mr Lyon, with a vague shortsighted gaze, in which a candidate's appearance evidently went for nothing. " Pray be seated, gentlemen. It is my habit to stand." He placed himself at a right angle with his visit- ors, his worn look of intellectual eagerness, slight frame, and rusty attire, making an odd contrast with their flourishing persons, unblemished costume. 20 FELIX HOLT, and comfortable freedom from excitement. The group was fairly typical of the difference between the men who are animated by ideas and the men who are expected to apply them. Then he drew forth his spectacles, and began to rub them with the thin end of his coat-tail. He w^as in- wardly exercising great self-mastery — suppressing the thought of his personal needs, which Jermyn's presence tended to suggest, in order that he might be equal to the larger duties of this occasion. '^ I am aware — Mr Jermyn has told me," said Harold, " what good service you have done me already, Mr Lyon. The fact is, a man of intellect like you was especially needed in my case. The race I am running is really against Garstin only, who calls himself a Liberal, though he cares for nothing, and understands nothing, except the in- terests of the wealthy traders. And you have been able to explain the difference between Liberal and Liberal, which, as you and I know, is something like the difference between fish and fish." "Your comparison is not unapt, sir," said Mr Lyon, still holding his spectacles in his hand, " at this epoch, when the mind of the nation has been strained on the passing of one measure. Where a great weight has to be moved, we require not so THE RADICAL. 21 mucli selected instruments as abundant horse-power. But it is an unavoidable evil of these massive achievements that they encourage a coarse undis- criminatingness obstructive of more nicely- wrought results, and an exaggerated expectation inconsistent with the intricacies of our fallen and struggling condition. I say not that compromise is unneces- sary, but it is an evil attendant on our imperfec- tion ; and I would pray every one to mark that, where compromise broadens, intellect and con- science are thrust into narrower room. Wherefore it has been my object to show our people that there are many who have helped to draw the car of Keform, whose ends are but partial, and who forsake not the ungodly principle of selfish alliances, but would only substitute Syria for Egypt — thinking chiefly of their own share in peacocks, gold, and ivory." " Just so," said Harold, who was quick at new languages, and still quicker at translating other men's generalities into his own special and immedi- ate purposes, " men who will be satisfied if they can only bring in a plutocracy, buy up the land, and stick the old crests on their new gateways. Now the practical point to secure against these false Liberals at present is, that our electors should not 22 FELIX HOLT, divide their votes. As it appears tliat many who vote for Debarry are likely to split their votes in favour of Garstin, it is of the first consequence that my voters should give me plumpers. If they divide their votes they can't keep out Debarry, and they may help to keep out me. I feel some confidence in asking you to use your influence in this direc- tion, Mr Lyon. "We candidates have to praise our- selves more than is graceful; but you are aware that, while I belong by my birth to the classes that have their roots in tradition and all the old loyal- ties, my experience has lain chiefly among those who make their own career, and depend on the new rather than the old. I have had the advantage of considering national welfare under varied lights : I have wider views than those of a mere cotton lord. On questions connected with religious liberty I would stop short at no measure that was not thorough." " I hope not, sir — I hope not," said Mr Lyon, gravely ; finally putting on his spectacles and ex- amining the face of the candidate, whom he was preparing to turn into a catechumen. For the good Eufus, conscious of his political importance as an organ of persuasion, felt it his duty to catechise a little, and also to do his part towards impressing a THE RADICAL. 23 probable legislator with a sense of his responsibi- lity. But the latter branch of duty somewhat obstructed the catechising, for his mind was so urged by considerations which he held in danger of being overlooked, that the questions and answers bore a very slender proportion to his exposition. It was impossible to leave the question of church-rates without noting the grounds of their injustice, and without a brief enumeration of reasons why Mr Lyon, for his own part, would not present that pas- sive resistance to a legal imposition which had been adopted by the Friends (whose heroism in this regard was nevertheless worthy of all honour). Comprehensive talkers are apt to be tiresome when we are not athirst for information, but, to be quite fair, we must admit that superior reticence is a good deal due to the lack of matter. Speech is often barren ; but silence also does not necessarily brood over a full nest. Your still fowl, blinking at you without remark, may all the while be sitting on one addled nest-egg ; and when it takes to cack- ling, will have nothing to announce but that addled delusion. Harold Transome was not at all a patient man, but in matters of business he was quite awake to his cue, and in this case it was perhaps easier to 24 FELIX HOLT, listen than to answer questions. But Jermyn, who had plenty of work on his hands, took an opportunity of rising, and saying, as he looked at his watch, " I must really be at the office in five minutes. You will find me there, Mr Transome ; you have probably still many things to say to Mr Lyon." " I beseech you, sir," said the minister, changing colour, and by a quick movement laying his hand on Jermyn's arm — " I beseech you to favour me with an interview on some private business — this even- ing, if it were possible." Mr Lyon, like others who are habitually occupied with impersonal subjects, was liable to this impul- sive sort of action. He snatched at the details of life as if they were darting past him — as if they were like the ribbons at his knees, which would never be tied all day if they were not tied on the instant. Through these spasmodic leaps out of his abstrac- tions into real life, it constantly happened that he suddenly took a course which had been the subject of too much doubt with him ever to have been deter- mined on by continuous thought. And if Jermyn had not startled him by threatening to vanish just when he was plunged in politics, he might never have made up his mind to confide in a worldly attorney. THE RADICAL. 25 (" An odd man," as Mrs Muscat observed, " to have sucli a gift in the pulpit. But there's One knows better than we do " which, in a lady who rarely felt her judgment at a loss, was a concession that showed much piety.) Jermyn was surprised at the little man's eager- ness. " By all means," he answered, quite cordially. " Could you come to my office at eight o'clock ?" " For several reasons, I must beg you to come to me. " O, very good. I'll walk out and see you this evening, if possible. I shall have much pleasure in being of any use to you." Jermyn felt that in the eyes of Harold he was appearing all the more valu- able when his services were thus in request. He went out, and Mr Lyon easily relapsed into politics, for he had been on the brink of a favourite subject on which he was at issue with his fellow-Liberals. At that time, when faith in the efficacy of political change was at fever-heat in ardent Keformers, many measures which men are still discussing with little confidence on either side, were then talked about and disposed of like property in near reversion. Crying abuses — "bloated paupers," "bloated pluralists," and other corruptions hindering men from being wise and happy — ^had to be fought against and slain. Such 26 FELIX HOLT, a time is a time of hope. Afterwards, when the corpses of those monsters have been held up to the public wonder and abhorrence, and yet wisdom and happiness do not follow, but rather a more abundant breeding of the foolish and unhappy, comes a time of doubt and despondency. But in the great Ee- form-year Hope was mighty : the prospect of Eeform had even served the voters instead of drink ; and in one place, at least, there had been a " dry election." And now the speakers at Eeform banquets were exuberant in congratulation and promise: Liberal clergymen of the Establishment toasted Liberal Catholic clergymen without any allusion to scarlet, and Catholic clergymen replied with a like tender reserve. Some dwelt on the abolition of all abuses, and on millennial blessedness generally ; others, whose imaginations were less suffused with exhala- tions of the dawn, insisted chiefly on the ballot- box. Now on this question of the ballot the minister strongly took the negative side. Our pet opinions are usually those which place us in a minority of a minority amongst our own party: — very happily, else those poor opinions, born with no silver spoon in their mouths — how would they get nourished and fed ? So it was with Mr Lyon and his objection to THE RADICAL. 27 the ballot. But he had thrown out a remark on the subject which was not quite clear to his hearer, who interpreted it according to his best calculation of probabilities. " I have no objection to the ballot," said Harold, " but I think that is not the sort of thing we have to work at just now. We shouldn't get it. And other questions are imminent." " Then, sir, you would vote for the ballot?" said Mr Lyon, stroking his chin. " Certainly, if the point came up. I have too much respect for the freedom of the voter to oppose anything which offers a chance of making that free- dom more complete." Mr Lyon looked at the speaker with a pitying smile and a subdued " h'm — m — m," which Harold took for a sign of satisfaction. He was soon unde- ceived. " You grieve me, sir ; you grieve me much. And I pray you to reconsider this question, for it will take you to the root, as I think, of political morality. I engage to show to any impartial mind, duly fur- nished with the principles of public and private rec- titude, that the ballot would be pernicious, and that if it were not pernicious it would still be futile. I will show, first, that it would be futile as a preserva- 28 FELIX HOLT, tive from bribery and illegitimate influence ; and, secondly, that it would be in the worst kind perni- cious, as shutting the door against those influences whereby the soul of a man and the character of a citizen are duly educated for their great functions. Be not alarmed if I detain you, sir. It is well worth the while." "Confound this old man," thought Harold. "I'll never make a canvassing call on a preacher again, unless he has lost his voice from a cold." He was going to excuse himself as prudently as he could, by deferring the subject till the morrow, and invit- ing Mr Lyon to come to him in the committee- room before the time appointed for his public speech ; but he was relieved by the opening of the door. Lyddy put in her head to say, " If you please, sir, here's Mr Holt wants to know if he may come in and speak to the gentleman. He begs your pardon, but you're to say 'no ' if you don't like him to come." "Nay, show him in at once, Lyddy. A young man," Mr Lyon went on, speaking to Harold, "whom a representative ought to know— no voter, but a man of ideas and study." " He is thoroughly welcome," said Harold, truth- fully enough, though he felt little interest in the THE RADICAL. 29 voteless man of ideas except as a diversion from the subject of the ballot. He had been standing for the last minute or two, feeling less of a victim in that attitude, and more able to calculate on means of escape. "Mr Holt, sir," said the minister, as Felix en- tered, '" is a young friend of mine, whose opinions on some points I hope to see altered, but who has a zeal for public justice which I trust he will never lose." " I am glad to see Mr Holt," said Harold, bowing. He perceived from the way in which Felix bowed to him and turned to the most distant spot in the room, that the candidate's shake of the hand would not be welcome here. " A formidable fellow," he thought, " capable of mounting a cart in the market- place to-morrow and cross-examining me, if I say anything that doesn't please him." " Mr Lyon," said Felix, " I have taken a liberty with you in asking to see Mr Transom e when he is engaged with you. But I have to speak to him on a matter which I shouldn't care to make public at present, and it is one on which I am sure you will back me. I heard that Mr Transonic was here, so I ventured to come. I hope you will both ex- cuse me, as my business refers to some electioneer- 30 FELIX HOLT, ing measures which are being taken by Mr Tran- some's agents." " Pray go on," said Harold, expecting something unpleasant. " I'm not going to speak against treating voters," said Felix ; " I suppose buttered ale, and grease of that sort to make the wheels go, belong to the neces- sary humbug of Eepresentation. But I wish to ask you, Mr Transome, whether it is with your know- ledge that agents of yours are bribing rough fel- lows who are no voters — ^the colliers and navvies at Sproxton — with the chance of extra drunkenness, that they may make a posse on your side at the nomination and polling ? " " Certainly not," said Harold. " You are aware, my dear sir, that a candidate is very much at the mercy of his agents as to the means by which he is returned, especially when many years' absence has made him a stranger to the men actually conduct- ing business. But are you sure of your facts?/' " As sure as my senses can make me," said Felix, who then briefly described what had happened on Sunday. "I believed that you were ignorant of all this, Mr Transome," he ended, " and that was why I thought some good might be done by speak- ing to you. If not, I should be tempted to expose THE RADICAL. 31 the whole aifair as a disgrace to the Eadical party. I'm a Eadical myself, and mean to work all my life long against privilege, monopoly, and oppression. But I would rather be a livery-servant proud of my master's title, than I w^ould seem to make common cause with scoundrels who turn the best hopes of men into by-words for cant and dishonesty." " Your energetic protest is needless here, sir/' said Harold, offended at what sounded like a threat, and was certainly premature enough to be in bad taste. In fact, this error of behaviour in Felix proceeded from a repulsion which was mutual. It was a con- stant source of irritation to him that the public men on his side were, on the whole, not con- spicuously better than the public men on the other side ; that the spirit of innovation, which with him was a part of religion, was in many of its mouth- pieces no more of a religion than the faith in rotten boroughs ; and he was thus predisposed to distrust Harold Transome. Harold, in his turn, disliked impracticable notions of loftiness and purity — dis- liked all enthusiasm ; and he thought he saw a very troublesome, vigorous incorporation of that nonsense in Felix. But it would be foolish to exasperate him in any way. "If you choose to accompany me to Jermyn's 32 FELIX HOLT, office," he went on, " the matter shall be inquired into in your presence. I think you will agree with me, Mr Lyon, that this will be the most satisfactory^ course ? " "Doubtless," said the minister, who liked the candidate very well, and believed that he would be amenable to argument; "and I would caution my young friend against a too great hastiness of words and action. David's cause against Saul was a righteous one ; nevertheless not all who clave unto David were righteous men." " The more was the pity, sir," said Felix. " Es- pecially if he winked at their malpractices." Mr Lyon smiled, shook his head, and stroked his favourite's arm deprecatingly. " It is rather too much for any man to keep the consciences of all his party," said Harold. " If you had lived in the East, as I have, you would be more tolerant. More tolerant, for example, of an active industrious selfishness, such as we have here, though it may not always be quite scrupulous : you would see how much better it is than an idle selfishness. I have heard it said, a bridge is a good thing — worth helping to make, though half the men who worked at it were rogues." " 0 yes ! " said Felix, scornfully, " give me a THE EADICAL. 33 handful of generalities and analogies, and I'll under- take to justify Burke and Hare, and prove them benefactors of their species. Til tolerate no nuisances but such as I can't help ; and the question now is, not whether we can do away with all the nuisances in the world, but with a particular nuisance under our noses." " Then we had better cut the matter short, as I propose, by going at once to Jermyn's," said Harold. " In that case, I must bid you good -morning, Mr Lyon." " I would fain," said the minister, looking uneasy — " I would fain have had a further opportunity of considering that question of the baUot with you. The reasons against it need not be urged lengthily ; they only require complete enumeration to prevent any seeming hiatus, where an opposing fallacy might thrust itself in." " Never fear, sir," said Harold, shaking Mr Lyon's hand cordially, " there will be opportunities. Shall I not see you in the committee-room to-morrow ? " " I think not," said Mr Lyon, rubbing his brow, with a sad remembrance of his personal anxieties. 