The transaction was humiliating to the little man, but he was a thoroughly conscientious person, and he did not shrink from that which he felt it was at once his duty and his interest to do, however galling it might be to his self-esteem. He carried away the books with him, and dismissed the workmen, warning them that they would be required to give evidence in the trial of the Tramplaras, which, as he supposed, would inevitably follow. ’I have been considering,’ said Israel Flamank to those with him in the same carriage, ’that I have been very blind. Last night I was unable to sleep, and so I turned prophecy over in my head, and I saw clearly, at last, that the whole affair had been foretold. The name Trampleasure, if rightly estimated—that is, with a certain value given to each letter, and the capital letter _T_ being reckoned as double a small _t_, and the _ea_ in pleasure being turned into an _i_, Tramplisure instead of Trampleasure, which is the way in which some persons would pronounce the name, and the _e_ at the end of the name omitted as a mute—I say, thus valued, the name makes, when summed up, exactly six hundred and sixty-six, which is the number of the Beast, and which is also, we are distinctly told, the number of a man’s name. Now this, I take it, is a very significant fact. The Beast, we are further informed, would deceive the very elect; and what else are we, I ask, but the very elect?’ ’That is true,’ responded all those in the chaise, and shook their heads affirmatively. ’And he spake great swelling words,’ went on the Reverend Israel. ’Now old Mr. Trampleasure had a certain pomposity of manner about him that exactly tallies with the description given by the inspired penman.’ ’Very true,’ answered the carriage-load, and the heads all shook together again. ’It is remarkable also,’ continued the minister, ’that in the sacred text the Beast Trampleasure is associated with the Woman, Babylon—that is, with Rome. For Babylon is Rome, as every schoolboy knows, ethnographically, entomologically, and enterically. Now, I ask you, is not a young Roman Catholic lady staying in Dolbeare with the family, and is not Miss Trampleasure about to be, or already, married to a Roman Catholic gentleman?’ ’To be sure,’ responded those in the chaise, and shook their heads knowingly. ’And, remember, the seer of Patmos saw two Beasts, and the little one derived his power from the elder, which was wounded, though not to death. That wound I take to be the failure of Polpluggan, from which old Trampleasure recovered. As to the little Beast, there can be no question about him—Sampson Trampleasure, junior.’ ’That is certain!’ exclaimed the chorus, and all the heads shook to the left. ’But, good heavens, what have we here!’ cried Mr. Flamank. The carriage stopped. ’What’s the matter there?’ inquired the driver of the chaise, as he drew up.