our 'cutest men. He had a sharp, half
crazy look in his eyes, oddly added to by a
small round patch of white hair upon his
crown, which, amidst his short stubby shag,
had something of the effect of a third eye
set in that spot.

"I don't see no call to make any question
on it," cried Mrs. Pincher, a small wiry
woman with an irrepressible spirit and a
shrill voice. "There's no question of there
being a debt on the chapel. For my part,
I can't see as it's of much consequence
who's in, Whigs or Tories; they're all
pretty much of a muchness. But it is a
matter of consequence whether our debt's
paid."

"Ay, ay!" assented Pincher; "a debt
on a chapel's a maggot as soon eats up the
zeal of the house."

Brother Pincher believed he had quoted
Scripture, and paused solemnly for the
slow low hum of approval, which was
ready to follow any apt quotation from
that source.

"But there's our principles," said the
chairman, after some further discussion.

"And there's our debt," murmured half
a dozen of the female members.

"And there's poor Mr. Romilly," cried
out Mrs. Pincher, more shrilly than before,
"as would come into twenty pound a year
extry, and could get married, and live
respectable. It 'ud be a sin and shame if
such a offer was throwed away, I say."

The question oscillated to and fro, with
good long swings at first, but gradually it
began to settle down towards accepting
the offer, which appeared too good to be
refused. Yet there was a soreness in our
spirits at the thought of casting our votes
into the Conservative scale. It was more
than probable that it would make the
Liberals kick the beam. Once or twice I
was on the verge of rising to my feet and
throwing all my influence upon the losing
side; but a look from Mary, half threatening,
half beseeching, arrested me. It was
too much for mortal man. I sat still, until
it was unanimously voted that the debt
must be paid.

"But, gentlemen," I said; then, correcting
myself, I hastened to add, "My
brethren, does it not occur to you that we
ought, in fairness, to lay this matter before
the committee of our friends? They know
that not a man among you would dirty his
fingers with a bribe; but it is another
question when four hundred pounds is
offered for the cause. The committee will
be still sitting, though it is near nine
o'clock. Let a deputation of you wait
upon them at once."

My motion was accepted with acclamation.
Mary's father, Mr. Pincher, without
his wife, three or four others, and myself,
were deputed to wait immediately upon the
Liberal committee. I tried to get off, on
the plea of not being a voter; but they
made a point of my assistance at the coming
interview. We trudged off through
the dark two miles of road which led to
Much Coalmoor. Talk of conflicts, I never
passed through such another conflict. I
was almost, if not altogether, a Radical;
and here was I on the point of proving
myself a renegade and a traitor. I panted to
meet with some accident which could deliver
me from facing that committee, every one
of whom had complimented me upon my
zeal and energy. But we gained the town,
the street, and the hotel, without any
interposition of Providence in my behalf.

It was late, only a few of the committee
were at their posts. They welcomed us
with a painful cordiality. My fellow-
deputies waited for me to be their spokesman;
but I stammered so badly that
Brother Pincher pushed me on one side,
and I saw the white spot on the crown of
his head gleaming spectrally.

"The long and the short of it is, gentlemen,"
he said, with great energy, "as them
Conservatives, who we hate as we hate
poison, have made us an uncommon good
offer; and we can't make up our minds to
cut off our noses and spite ourselves by
saying 'No' to it. As our young preacher
here says, there isn't a man among us as
would dirty his own ten fingers with a
bribe; but four hundred pounds for the
cause isn't to be sneezed at. Politics is
politics, but religion's religion; and if one
must knock under, it's politics I say. I'm
here ready to answer any questions, spiritual
or temporal; and politics is spiritual, and
religion's temporal—no, religion's temporal
and politics is spiritual; which I hope is
quite clear to us all."

It did not seem quite clear to the gentlemen
on the committee, who had listened
with that bland attention characteristic of
such personages. Mary's father nudged
me sternly with his elbow. It was the
prick of the bayonet to a laggard captive,
which goaded me on to the front.

"Let me explain it to you, gentlemen,"
I said, in nervous tones. "The other side
has made overtures to us to clear our
chapel of a standing debt of four hundred
pounds."