Hickson, who felt that he had jarred against the little
minister's principles, and yet knew, from the carte du pays which
the scouts of the parliamentary agent had given him, that Mr.
Benson was a person to be conciliated, on account of his
influence over many of the working-people, began to ask him
questions with an air of deferring to superior knowledge, that
almost surprised Mr. Bradshaw, who had been accustomed to treat
"Benson" in a very different fashion, of civil condescending
indulgence, just as one listens to a child who can have had no
opportunities of knowing better.
At the end of a conversation that Mr. Hickson held with Mr.
Benson, on a subject in which the latter was really interested,
and on which he had expressed himself at some length, the young
barrister turned to Mr. Bradshaw and said very audibly--
"I wish Donne had been here. This conversation during the last
half-hour would have interested him almost as much as it has done
me."
Mr. Bradshaw little guessed the truth, that Mr. Donne was, at
that very moment, coaching up the various subjects of public
interest at Eccleston, and privately cursing the particular
subject on which Mr. Benson had been holding forth, as being an
unintelligible piece of Quixotism; or the leading Dissenter of
the town need not have experienced a pang of jealousy at the
possible future admiration his minister might excite in the
possible future member for Eccleston.
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