Two more of the townsmen, followers of Fullerton, rose in turn to speak, but were silenced on the spot by the announcement of the Rector, that this was not an ordinary meeting of ratepayers, but of the governors of the school, who alone had a right to make any motion and speak to the proposition before the meeting. This being so, Tomlinson was forced into action by his neighbour, and in smooth tones regretted that he was compelled to go in opposition to "our worthy Rector," but, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, he must object to the appointment of so young a man as Mr Luke Ross to so important a post, and after a long speech, in which he went round and round the subject a dozen times, he ended by declaring that he should vote against the appointment. To his annoyance, the Rector, as the meeting went on, found himself undoubtedly in the minority, and he felt bitterly the position in which Luke Ross had been placed. Just then, however, a couple of the governors, upon whom he knew that he could depend, entered the room, and the tables, he felt, were turned. Luke had been sitting, chafing at every word that had been said against his appointment, and every now and then, as he met Cyril Mallow's eye, it seemed to him to be full of triumph at his discomfiture. Then, too, he kept glancing at Portlock, and as he did so the bluff, wealthy farmer's words came back, mingled with the contempt he seemed to feel for the pittance that was to be the young master's for the first few years. Five hundred a year--five hundred a year--seemed to keep repeating itself to Luke Ross, as his eyes once more met those of Cyril Mallow, whose countenance wore a decided sneer. "Then now, gentlemen, I think," said the Rector, "we will proceed to vote." "Stop!" cried Luke Ross. It was on the impulse of the moment. He had had no such thought when he entered the room. "We will hear you, Mr Ross, after the voting is over," said the Rector, quietly. "No, sir," replied Luke, "I must ask you to hear me first. I have decided not to accept the post." There was a dead silence in the room for a few moments after Luke Ross's decisive words, a silence broken by Humphrey Bone, who relieved the excitement under which he laboured by starting from his seat, and bringing his thick-soled boot down with a tremendous clump upon the floor. "Do I understand you to say, Mr Ross, that you decline the post?" exclaimed the Rector. "Yes, sir, definitely," replied Luke. "I could not, under the circumstances, think of accepting the appointment." There was another pause here, and then, led by Fullerton, the opposition party broke into a loud cheer. "Silence if you please, gentlemen," exclaimed the Rector, with a greater show of indignation than any one present remembered him to have displayed. "This is no time for showing party feeling. Of course, as Mr Ross declines to accept the appointment--" "But he don't," cried old Michael Ross, "he wants time to think it over."