But the doctor saw, with a sudden quickening of the pulses, that the first finger and the thumb were joined still. It is the custom of the priest, after he has broken the bread, that the finger and thumb are never parted till Ma.s.s is said.

They were not parted now.

The fact comforted and cheered the doctor. He had been on battle-fields and had not known the fear and horror he had known to-day.

CHAPTER II

MR. HAMLYN AND SON AT HOME

Mr. Hamlyn lived in Alexandra Road, Hornham. The actual name of his house was "Balmoral," and it was one of seven or eight other residences gathered together under the generic t.i.tle of "Beatrice Villas."

The father and son turned into the little path which led up to the imitation satin-wood door some twenty minutes after the gate of St.

Elwyn"s had been barred to them. Their companions, Mr. Burgoyne and Mr.

Moffatt, had left them at the corner of the street, very fl.u.s.tered at what they had done, and with a dull remorse flitting about their thick skulls, that they had joined in "Hamlyn"s little game." Nor did the repeated a.s.surances of the journalist, that Mr. Herbert--the Liberal candidate--would "see them through it," help them to recover their peace of mind. Visions of police-court proceedings and an unenviable notoriety in the daily papers were very vivid, and they parted with their chief in mingled sorrow and anger.

Mr. Hamlyn let himself and his son into the little hall of his villa. A smell of roast meat gave evidence that dinner would soon be ready. Both men turned into the parlour on the left of the pa.s.sage. It was a room which showed signs of fugitive rather than regular use. Two or three long boxes bearing the name of a local draper stood upon the round table in the centre. The contents showed that Miss Hamlyn, the agitator"s only daughter, had been occupied in the choice of corsets.

The walls of the parlour were covered with a rich mauve and gold paper, which gave a dignity to the cut-gla.s.s l.u.s.tres of the chandelier. The pictures, heavily framed in gold, were spirited representations of scenes from the Old Testament. On the rack of the rosewood piano--which stood open--was a song called "Roses that Bloomed in my Heart."

The chairs, arranged around the wall with commendable regularity, were upholstered in plum-coloured plush. On one of them was a card-box of a vivid green, containing several clean collars of the particular sort Hamlyn Junior wore; on another stood the wooden box where his father"s silk hat was kept when not in use on Sundays and other important days.

Mr. Hamlyn took off his frock coat and removed the reversible cuffs that were attached to the sleeves of his flannel shirt by means of an ingeniously contrived clip. He then put on a loose coat of black alpaca.

His son, having gone through something of the same process, followed his father to the sitting-room next the little kitchen.

As the parlour was not often used for ceremonial occasions, the Hamlyns not being very hospitable people, it served as an occasional dressing-room also, and saved running up-stairs.

The sitting-room window looked out into the backyard, immediately by the kitchen door, which led into it. As the Hamlyns came in, they were able to see their servant throwing some hot liquid--the water in which the cabbage had been boiled, as a matter of fact--into the grid in the centre of the yard.

The table was already laid for the meal. As, however, it was rather a long table and the Hamlyns were only three in family,--Hamlyn being a widower,--the white cloth was laid only on half of it. One or two volumes of the Heartsease Novelettes and some artificial flowers, with which a hat was to be trimmed by Miss Hamlyn, were thus left undisturbed.

"Dinner didn"t ought to be long," Mr. Hamlyn remarked.

""Ope not," said his son shortly. "I"ll holler to Maud."

Miss Hamlyn came in soon afterwards, followed by the maid with a joint of roast beef. The editor"s daughter was a tall girl with sulky lips, bold eyes, and a profusion of dark hair. This last was now screwed round her forehead in curling-pins.

The two men attacked their dinner in silence. Both of them had tucked a handkerchief round their necks, in order to preserve the Sunday waistcoat from droppings of food, a somewhat wise precaution, as both of them ate very rapidly.

"Maud," said Hamlyn at length, "can you do a bit of typing for me this afternoon?"

"No, then, I can"t, Pa," she replied resentfully, "and it"s like you to ask it. On the Sabbath, too! I"m going out with Gussie Davies for a walk."

"Touch the "arp lightly, my dear," he replied, "no need to get your feathers up."

"Well, Pa," she answered, "I"m sure I"m ready to spank the beastly machine for you all the week, you know I am. But Sundays is different."

Hamlyn made no reply. Both he and his son were thinking deeply, and as yet no reference had escaped them as to the doings of the morning.

Although the girl knew there was something special afoot, she was not much interested in the details, being at all times a person much occupied with her own affairs.

During the pudding, she had a short and slangy conversation with her brother, and directly the meal was over she went up-stairs to "dress."

The servant removed the plates and dishes, and Hamlyn and his son sat down at the table. The father drew a large portfolio of papers towards him. The son lighted a cheap cigarette.

Both of the Hamlyns spoke fairly correctly in public, though with the usual c.o.c.kney tw.a.n.g. In the seclusion of Balmoral, neither of them thought it necessary to be very particular about the aspirates which they emphasised so carefully elsewhere.

"When will Mr. Herbert pay up?" said Sam.

"To-morrow. I shall see him in the committee room during the afternoon, and it"s five and twenty pound earned as easy as I ever earned anything in my life. It"ll come in very "andy too. There"s the rent on the linotype machine just due."

"The money"s all right," answered the younger man, "and, of course, we"re guaranteed against fines and anything of that sort. But do you think the game"s worth the candle? How will opinion in the parish go?"

"Like a house on fire. Wait till you see my leader in Wednesday"s issue.

Mr. Herbert has put me up to the whole thing. We"re carrying out a patriotic Henglish duty. Public sympathy will all be with us. Rome is creeping in among us!"

Sam grinned. "Well, you know best, Father, of course. And we"re bound to support Mr. Herbert."

"I"ve been thinking a great deal," Hamlyn answered slowly. "I"ve always been an ambitious man and I"ve always meant to come out on top somehow or other. But I"ve never had a big chance yet. I think,--I"m not sure,--but I _think_ I see that chance waiting now."

His shrewd face was lighted up with a curious excitement. The eyes glowed and the impudent merriment on the lips became more p.r.o.nounced than before.

"What is it then?"

"Listen quietly to me for a few minutes. The idea came gradual to me. I got on the track six months ago. First of all, it was the ten gross of religious books I had down in the shop. They were of all sorts. Which was the one that went best? Why, it was _The Adventures of Susan Lefever, the Captive Nun_. I sold "em all out in no time. The next best seller was _The Revelations of Pastor Coucherrousset, the Converted Catholic Priest_. Anything against Rome! Mr. Leatherbarrow, of the New Connection Methodists, preached three times on those books. He had all the congregation fair shaking with indignation against the Scarlet Woman. You see it"s like this. People want a c.o.c.k-shy. They don"t much care about what it is, as long as they"ve got it--see the way they"re down on the Sheenies in France. Now a religious c.o.c.k-shy is the best of all. It gives people a feeling that they"re in real earnest, and they can kid themselves and other people that it"s more disinterested than politics, for instance. They"ve nothing to get by it--except the fun of doing it--and that flatters "em because they"re always on the grab in every other way. See?"

Sam nodded. He was not one of those youths who despise the words of parental wisdom. He was not himself a fool, and so he did not fall into the mistake of underrating his father"s capacity and knowledge of life.

The small and vulgar triumphs of Hamlyn"s career were all appreciated and noted by his son, who had a sincere respect for him.

"Very well, then," Hamlyn continued. "It"s a sure draw, all over England, to raise the anti-popery cry. The wholesale trade tell me that the business done in Fox"s _Book of Martyrs_ is a perfect knock-out year by year, and there"s a sure sale for the smaller books about the priests larking with the girls in the confessional and so forth. Anything with "Secret History" or "Jesuit" on the t.i.tle-page "ll sell like the _Evening News_ on Derby Day. Now, I"ve been reading all the publications of the regular Protestant societies during the last few weeks. Plenty of cuts at the Ritualists, lots of little sixpennies bound in cloth to prove as there isn"t no such thing as apostolic succession, that wafers is illegal, and the Eastern position rather worse than arson. They"re all very well in their way, but they"re written by D.D."s and M.A."s and such like, who don"t care to go too far. I have a list in my portfolio here of the regular Protestant writers--nearly all _cla.s.s_, my boy.

Listen here:

"_Transubstantiation and the Invocation of Saints._ Rev. J. c.u.mmer, Canon Residentiary of Ironpool.

"_Popery the Work of "the Adversary,"--the Roman Clergy under Satanic Influence._ Rev. R. S. Blanken, LL.D., inc.u.mbent of Christ Church, Oxton.

"_Ritualism in the English Church: A Word of Warning._ Rev. Joshua Cafe, D.D., prebendary of Bath and Wells.

"There"s dozens of others like this. They"re all very well in their way, but they don"t strike the really _popular_ note. They"ve broken the ground and sowed the seed, but they"re not going to reap the harvest."

"Who is, then, Father? And what"ll it be worth when it is reaped?"

"Us, my boy. As to the worth of it, go on listening to me and you"ll see things gradually getting clearer. I want you to see how I"ve worked it all out. If we _do_ strike oil, all I"m telling you now will be valuable. During my local work for the Protestant cause down here, I"ve been brought in touch with members of the old-established societies and I"ve taken the length of their foot. They"re too dignified altogether.

Real live methods don"t appeal to them. Financially they don"t do badly, but nothing like what they _might_ do if they adopted the right methods.

All their subscriptions come from the upper cla.s.ses, and there"s a whole goldmine lying at their doors which is quite untouched! _abso-lute-ly_ unworked, Sam! The middle cla.s.ses and the lower cla.s.ses haven"t _begun_ to give to the Protestant cause. Why? Because it hasn"t been put prominently before them in the way they"ll understand. Bang the field-piece! tw.a.n.g the lyre! thump the tub! rattle the tambourine!

That"s the way. Look at the Salvation Army! The time is ripe for new methods and for a new man who isn"t a canon residentiary or a D.D. I"ve got all the ritualistic statistics. Day by day the Ritualists are trying it on, getting nearer and nearer to Rome. Everything is ready."