"But he does. He told me so in London. He repeated the same thing this morning." "I don't mean Babberly personally," I said, "I mean his party; Malcolmson, you know, and our Dean. If you'd only gone to hear the Dean preach this morning you'd know what he thinks about blood. I've often heard him say that the last drop of it--mind that now, Sir Samuel--the last drop ought to be shed. That's going as far as any one very well could, isn't it?" "But he must," said Clithering, "he must think bloodshed deplorable." "No, he doesn't," I said. "You mustn't think everybody is like your Government. It's humanitarian. We're not. We're business men." Clithering caught at the last phrase. It appealed to him. He did not know the meaning attached to it by Cahoon. "That's just it," he said. "We want to appeal to you as business men. We want to suggest a reasonable compromise." "I'm afraid," I said, "that you've come to the wrong place. I'm not the least averse to compromises myself, in fact I love them. But the Belfast business man--You don't quite understand him, I'm afraid, Sir Samuel. Have you heard him singing his hymn?" "No. What hymn? But leaving the question of hymns aside for the moment--" "You can't do that," I said, "the hymn is the central fact in the situation." Clithering thought this over and evidently failed to understand it. "What I am empowered to suggest," he said, "is a compromise so very favourable to the Ulster claims that I can hardly imagine your rejecting it. The Government will allow the meeting to be held this day week if your committee will agree to the postponement." "If," I said, "you will also withdraw your Home Rule Bill--" "But we can't," said Clithering. "We can't do that. We'll insert any reasonable safeguards. We'll concede anything that Ulster likes to ask, but we're pledged, absolutely pledged, to the Bill." "Well," I said, "as far as pledges are concerned, we're pledged against it." "What we deprecate," said Sir Samuel, "is violence of any kind. Constitutional agitation, even if carried on with great bitterness is one thing. Violence--but I'm sure, Lord Kilmore, that we can rely on you to use your influence at the meeting this afternoon to secure the acceptance of the terms we offer. I'm sure we can count on you. You can't _want_ bloodshed." I did not want bloodshed, of course. I do not suppose that anybody did. What Clithering could not understand was that some people--without wanting bloodshed--might prefer it to Home Rule. He left me, still I fancy relying on my well-known moderation. No man ever relied on a more utterly useless crutch. Moderation has never been of the slightest use anywhere in Ireland and was certainly a vain thing in Belfast that day. I walked round to the club and found nobody in it except Conroy. He alone, among the leading supporters of the Loyalist movement, had failed to go to church. I thought I might try how he would regard the policy of moderation.