'I believe you are too convivially disposed to object to a good dinner!' laughed Lord Glandore. 'There's a power of cant in these patriotic views. As regards us Englishry, the inferiority of our numbers is more than compensated by commanding vigour and organisation. It's a law of nature that a weak vessel should give way before a strong one. History tells us that our ancestors, the English colonists, sturdy to begin with, were compelled by their position to cultivate energy and perseverance, while the aborigines never worked till they felt the pangs of hunger, and were content to lie down in the straw beside their cattle. The Catholics are the helot class. Let them prove themselves worthy of consideration if they can.' 'The Irish Catholics of ability,' returned the neophyte, 'are at Versailles or Ildefonso, driven from here long since.' 'False reasoning, my lord,' said doughty Curran. 'The "Englishry," as you call them, are the servants of England. Their interests are the same, because England pays them well. How can a nation's limbs obey her will if it is weighed to the earth by gyves? First knock off the irons, then bid her stand upon her feet. As the boy says, folks are too fond of prancing round that statue. I don't myself see a way out of the darkness. Why should it not be given to him, and such as he, to lead us from the labyrinth?' My lord wished he had not summoned these low persons. Before he could reply the young man said sadly: 'What can a lawyer do but prose?' And Arthur Wolfe, perceiving a storm brewing, cried out with nervous merriment: 'What! harping on the old string, Theobald? Still pining for a military frock and helmet? Boy, boy! Look at the pageant that is spread before our eyes. The triumph of this day is due to its bloodlessness. This grand array would not disgrace its cloth, I'm sure, in the battle; but happily success has been achieved by moral force alone. Right is might with the Volunteers. May their swords never leave their scabbards!' 'You cannot deny,' persisted the froward youth, 'that yonder battalions would be a grander sight if they really represented the nation without regard to creed--if, for example, every other man among them was a Catholic!' My lord looked cross, my lady black as thunder, so Wolfe, the peacemaker, struck in again as he twisted his fingers in his little daughter's curls. 'I agree that it is monstrous,' he said, with hesitation, 'that three million men with souls should be plough-horses for conscience' sake. In these days it's a scandal. Sister, you must admit that. Perhaps we are entering on a better time. A reformed parliament, if you can get it, will no doubt emancipate the Catholics. You are a hare-brained lad, my godson; but here is a Catholic little girl who shall thank you. Doreen, my treasure, you may shake hands with Theobald.'