Let no one blame Dr. Humbletop for his lack of clear vision. A more honest, conscientious, and generous soul could not be found in Valley Rest. Receiving an income which to many of his acquaintances would have seemed insufficient to a man of good breeding and refined tastes, he found ways of devoting more than a tithe of it to charities either private or public. He was always ready to forego his own tastes and inclinations in order to visit the sick, counsel the troubled, or pray with the dying; his voice and vote were never lacking in affairs of public interest, and they were always used in the interest of the highest morality. But the doctor had been born and bred under a religious system which he had been taught was to be accepted, not changed, and not even to be questioned. To him, as to the wise Solomon, the law of the Lord was perfect, the difference between the two men being that the doctor found the whole law in the letter of a single department of it, instead of in the Spirit, and that this peculiarity of his mind had come to him by birth, been strengthened by a special education, and established by habit. Whenever he for a moment questioned his belief, he very naturally contemplated the many generations of wiser men who had accepted beliefs like his own, and in their wisdom and their interpretation of Scripture his soul rested. And yet Squire Woodhouse was moved to say to Mr. Alleman: "It seems to me the doctor begs the question." CHAPTER IX. THE DOCTRINE OF INSURANCE. Conversation upon the lesson of the previous Sunday was not confined to the quartette that met at the village post-office. Most of the members of the club went to the city on Monday morning on the little steamer _Oak-leaf_. The radicals among them were eager for a renewal of the fray, and the orthodox were not at all averse to displaying their defensive abilities. Indeed, President Lottson stood at the wharf, newspaper in hand, for the express purpose of encountering Broker Whilcher, and provoking him to make an attack. The broker finally appeared, accompanied by his wife and children; but the presence of non-combatants did not discourage the Soldier of the Cross, who had been too long in the insurance business to be willing to lose any chance of strengthening his own protection against risk in another world. Broker Whilcher met him boldly; he sent his _impedimenta_ promptly to the rear--to wit, the ladies' saloon--and prepared for the combat which he knew was approaching. "I suppose you think you whipped us yesterday," said President Lottson, by way of opening shot. "It was too clear a case to depend upon supposition only," said the broker; "but if you've any doubts on the subject I've no objections to helping defeat you again."