"Beware of the teetotalers, Denzil; they are
a power among us." Whereto Quarrier replied that teetotalers might
be eternally condemned; he would stick by his ale as tenaciously as
the old farmer of Thornaby Waste.
"It's the first duty of a Radical to set his face against humbug. If
I see no harm in a thing, I shall do it openly, and let people"----
At this point he checked himself, almost as if he had a sudden
stitch in the side. Tobias asked for an explanation, but did not
receive one.
On getting home again, he found Lilian in the drawing-room. (As an
ordinary thing he did not "dress" for dinner, since his evenings
were often spent in the company of people who would have disliked
the conspicuousness of his appearance.) She rose to meet him with
shining countenance, looking happier, indeed, and more rarely
beautiful than he had ever seen her.
"What cheer? A triumph already?"
"I think so, Denzil; I really think so. Mrs. Powell has promised me
to do her very best with her husband. Oh, if you could have heard
our conversation! I hadn't thought it possible for any one to be so
ignorant of the simplest political facts. One thing that she said--
I was talking about war, and suddenly she asked me: 'Do you think it
likely, Mrs. Quarrier, that there would be an _inscription_?' For a
moment I couldn't see what she meant.
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