New Wanley was no longer an end in itself,
but a stepping-stone You must come to your own conclusions in
judging the value of Mutimer's social zeal; the facts of his life up
to this time are before you, and you will not forget how complex a
matter is the mind of a strong man with whom circumstances have
dealt so strangely. His was assuredly not the vulgar self-seeking of
the gilded _bourgeois_ who covets an after-dinner sleep on
Parliamentary benches. His ignorance of the machinery of government
was profound; though he spoke scornfully of Parliament and its
members, he had no conception of those powers of dulness and
respectability which seize upon the best men if folly lures them
within the precincts of St. Stephen's. He thought, poor fellow! that
he could rise in his place and thunder forth his indignant eloquence
as he did in Commonwealth Hall and elsewhere; he imagined a
conscience-stricken House, he dreamed of passionate debates on a
Bill which really had the good of the people for its sole object.
Such Bill would of course bear _his_ name; shall we condemn him for
that?
Adela was at Exmouth, drinking the mild air, wondering whether there
was in truth a life to come, and, if so, whether it was a life
wherein Love and Duty were at one. A year ago such thoughts could
not have entered her mind.
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