"You surely cannot have heard me aright," said the clergyman in astonishment and sorrow. "I said Sir William Cattermole's Bill. You would support that infamous measure?" Charlie Fitzgerald was in a qualm, and it cannot be denied that Mr. Clutterbuck looked at him for aid and information. Like most honest men, Mr. Clutterbuck was not very ready to take hints or to observe expressions, but Charlie Fitzgerald's eyebrows were so unmistakable that he found his cue. "You must have misunderstood me," he said. "My point was that I would vote for an amendment to that Bill though it should cost me my seat--that is," he added modestly, "supposing I had one." After using this expression Mr. Clutterbuck was so miserable that the very publicans themselves would have pitied him had they seen the sweat gathering upon his temples, and the droop of his mouth which at every moment more and more resembled that of a child who is about to burst into tears. "Well, Mr. Clutterbuck," said the chairman with a sigh, "that's not very satisfactory." "No, it izunt," said the Orangeman offensively, though in a lower tone; while the lady, who had hitherto befriended the forlorn financier, now regarded him with a constrained reproach. "I am afraid," stammered the unfortunate man, "that I must have expressed myself ill." "No matter, Mr. Clutterbuck, no matter," said the chairman, lifting his hand benignly. "The time will come for all that, when this deplorable measure comes, if it ever does come, before the House.... And now, Mr. Clutterbuck," he added leaning forward, to the evident annoyance of his colleagues who desired to have a word, "what about the policy of Offences Disfranchisement?" To the immense surprise of his six torturers, Mr. Clutterbuck, in a manly and decisive voice replied, or rather shouted: "I will have nothing to do with it!" "Ear-ear!" said the barber enthusiastically. "Mr. Pickle," said the clergyman reprovingly, "your interruption is most improper." "But the sentiment's all right," said a little man to the left of the chair, who had not yet spoken, and whose wizened face betrayed acute intelligence. He added: "And I con-gratulate you, Mr. Clutterbuck. You're a gentleman! What's more is _this_; I shall be happy to shake you heartily by the hand when all o' this is over." The lady on the extreme left wing was visibly annoyed, the clergyman appeared indifferent, while the one member of the executive who had hitherto maintained a complete silence, and who yet was no less a person than the husband of the representative of the female committee of Mickleton, copied his wife's demeanour with that exactitude which is the outward symbol of a happy union. They had no children. Mr. Clutterbuck, in a tone still strong, but with something of the monotony which comes from frequent repetition, added: