Margaret Maliphant

								

waste of the rich. I'll wait to support Parliament till I see one of
the law-makers there lift up a finger to right the poor miserable
children who swarm and starve in the London streets, and whose little
faces grow mean and sharp with the learning to cheat those who cheat
them of their daily bread."
I can see him now, his lip trembling, his eye bright, his hands
clinched. It was the cry with which he ended every discourse; this
tender pity for the many children who must needs hunger while others
waste, who must needs learn sin while others are shielded from even
knowing that there is such a thing; those innocent sinners, outcasts
from good, patient because hopeless, yet often enough incurably happy
even in the very centre of evil--they were always in his heart. It was
his most cherished hope in some way to succor them, by some means to
bring the horror of their helplessness home to the hearts of those who
had happy children of their own.
I held my face down that no one should see my tears, and I knew that
father took out his big colored pocket-handkerchief and blew his nose
very hard. Mr. Hoad, however, was not so easily affected.
"Ah, you were right, Mrs. Maliphant," said he, in a loud, emphatic
voice. "Your husband would make a very fine orator. All the more reason
it's a sin and a shame he should hide his talents under a bushel. Now,
don't you agree with me?"
"Oh, Laban knows best what he has got to do," answered mother. "I think
it's a great pity for women to mix themselves up in these matters. They
have plenty to do attending to the practical affairs of life."
Mr. Hoad burst into a loud fit of laughter. "Ah, you've got a clever
wife, Maliphant," cried he. "She's put her finger upon the weak joint
in your armor! Yes, that's it, my boy. They're fine sentiments, but
they aren't practical; they won't wash. But you would soon see, when
you really got into the thing, that the best way to make the first step
towards what you want is not to ask for the whole lot at once. The thin
edge of the wedge--that's the art. And I should be inclined to think
this young fellow was not wanting in tact."
"Anyhow," answered father, quietly, "if Squire Broderick's nephew were
minded to oppose the Tory candidate for this county, I should certainly
not wish--as Squire Broderick's old friend--to support him in his
venture."
"Ah, you're very scrupulous, Maliphant," laughed Mr. Hoad. But then,
seeing his mistake, he added, quickly, "Quite right, perfectly right of
course, and I don't suppose the young man has any intention of doing
anything of the kind."
"No doubt it was rather that the wish was father to the thought in you,
Hoad," answered father, frankly.
"Ah, well, you may be as obstinate as you like, Maliphant," said the
solicitor, trying to take father's good-tempered effort as a cue for
jocoseness, "but we can get on very well without you if the young