‘Yes, we can. We ought to. At all events, _I_ ought to. Think what it means. In my hands the money is used for the good of a suffering class, for the good of the whole country in the end. He would just spend it on himself, like other rich men. It isn’t every day that a man of my principles gets the means of putting them into practice. Eldon is well enough off; long ago he’s made up his mind to the loss of Wanley. It’s like robbing poor people just to give money where it isn’t wanted.’ She withdrew her hand, saying coldly: ‘I can understand your looking at it in this way. But we can’t help it.’ ‘Why can’t we?’ His voice grew disagreeable in its effort to be insinuating. ‘It seems to me that we can and ought to help it. It would be quite different if you and I had just been enjoying ourselves and thinking of no one else.’ He thought it a skilful stroke to unite their names thus. ‘We haven’t done anything of the kind; we’ve denied ourselves all sorts of things just to be able to spend more on New Wanley. You know what I’ve always said, that I hold the money in trust for the Union. Isn’t it true? I don’t feel justified in giving it up. The end is too important. The good of thousands, of hundreds of thousands, is at stake.’ Adela looked him in the face searchingly. ‘But how can we help it? There is the will.’ Mutimer met her eyes. ‘No one knows of it but ourselves, Adela.’ It was not indignation that her look expressed, but at first a kind of shocked surprise and then profound trouble. It was with difficulty that she found words. ‘You are not speaking in earnest?’ ‘I am!’ he exclaimed, almost hopefully. ‘In downright earnest. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.’ He said it because he felt that her gaze was breeding shame in him. ‘It isn’t for myself, it’s for the cause, for the good of my fellowmen. Don’t say anything till you’ve thought. Look, Adela, you’re not hardhearted, and you know how it used to pain you to read of the poor wretches who can’t earn enough to keep themselves alive. It’s for their sake. If they could be here and know of this, they’d go down on their knees to you. You _can’t_ rob them of a chance! It’s like snatching a bit of bread out of their mouths when they’re dying of hunger.’