When he heard the
arguments used for a difference of suffrage in the towns and
counties, and found that even they who were proposing the change
were not ready absolutely to assimilate the two and still held that
rural ascendency,--feudalism as he called it,--should maintain
itself by barring a fraction of the House of Commons from the votes
of the majority, he pronounced the whole thing to be a sham. The
intention was, he said, to delude the people. "It is all coming,"
said the gentleman who was accustomed to argue with him in those
days. He spoke in a sad vein, which was in itself distressing to
the Senator. "Why should you be in such a hurry?" The Senator
suggested that if the country delayed much longer this imperative
task of putting its house in order, the roof would have fallen in
before the repairs were done. Then he found that this gentleman
too, avoided his company, and declined to sit with him any more in
the Gallery of the House of Commons.
Added to all this was a private rankling, sore in regard to Goarly
and Bearside. He had now learned nearly all the truth about Goarly,
and had learned also that Bearside had known the whole when he had
last visited that eminent lawyer's office. Goarly had deserted his
supporters and had turned evidence against Scrobby, his partner in
iniquity.
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