The Fixed Period

expected my old friend to submit to deposition. Now I expected nothing of the kind, and it grieved me to think that I should be driven to such false excuses. I began to doubt wh

es of all my fellow-citizens. My health was good, and I had ample scope for my energies then, even as now. But there came on me a day of success,-a day, shall I say, of glory or of wretchedness? or shall I not most truly say of both?-and I persuaded my fellow-citizens to undertake this sad work of the Fixed Period. From that moment all quiet had left me, and all happiness. Still, it is not necessary that a man should be happy. I doubt whether C?sar was happy with all those en

topmast, and the flag of the English cricket-club waving from her stern. But I knew well that they had discussed the question of the Fixed Period among them, and that there was still time for them to go home and send back some English ma

dness which seemed to bespeak a yielding spirit. He only asked for a year. He was still in theory a supporter of the Fixed Period,-pleading his own little cause, however, by a direct falsehood. Could I not talk him into a generous as

yacht. Jack, I perceived, was quite at home there. He had dined there frequently, and had slept on board; but to me and Crasweller it was altogether new. "Yes," said Lord Marylebone; "if a fellow is to make his home for a month upon the seas, it is as well to make it as comfortable as possible. Each of us has his own crib, with a bath to himself, and all the et-ceteras. This is where we feed. It is not altogether a bad shop for grubbing." As I looked round I thought that I had never seen anything more palatial and beautiful. "This is where we pretend to sit," continued the lord; "where we are supposed to write our letters and

r House with us,

ould continue to sit merely to register the edicts of the House of Commons, and be told that we're a pack of fools when we hesit

Peer of Parliament, or you can sit nowhere. A ship can only be a ship, after all; but if we must live in a ship, we are not

d as I took my place at the table, I heard that the as

d me to death, and cremate me like a big pig." Then he perceived that I

owing next Friday at two o'cl

me to allow them to think that I was afraid to talk of the Fixed Period. "Why should you object to be cremated, Mr Puddleb

ebranes were always buried. There are they, all to be seen i

Mr Puddlebrane. And a cremated man may have as big a tombstone as

ther, "that he'd like to have the sam

they very generally died before sixty-eight. But we have no id

ey were picked." I ate my mango-pudding, but I did not enjoy it, for I was sure that the whole crew were returning to England laden with prejudices against the Fixed Period. As soon as I could escape, I got back to the shore, leaving Jack among my enemies. It was impossible not to f

as one among them who could have earned his bread in a counting-house, unless it was Stumps the professional. When we had paid all honour to the departing vessel, I went at once to Little Christchurch, and there I found my friend in the verandah with Eva. During the last month or two he seemed to be much older than I had ever bef

I don't want to qua

l, Eva, how do you bear the los

used to have in Britannula." I doubted whether she alluded to me or to Jack. It

hen she came up and looked me in the face, and pressed my hand, and I knew that she was asking for mercy for her father. Th

lent had I allowed him to do so. "Crasweller," I said, "it is certainly not well that you and I should quarrel on this matter. In your company I fir

it is to be treated as o

a treat

red unless I will boldly declare myself opposed to your theory. She already regards me

convictions of your mi

he desire to live is human, and therefore God-like. When the hand of God is felt to have struck one with coming death, the sufferer, knowing the blow t

his age, and no longer intended to ask for a year of grace by the use of that falsehood. But it was nec

onger about the records. Eva and I have discussed all that." From this I

" said I, with, as I fe

prepared to dispute it, and says that he will ask

out anything. You

has gone altogether out of his mind

; but I learn from really good authority that whethe

st those who come to fetch him. He swears th

art. I looked round and saw the beauty of the scenery, and thought how much worse to such a man would be the melancholy shades of the college than even departure itself. And I am not by nature hard-hearted. I have none of that steel and fibre which will enable a really strong man to stand firm by convictions even when opposed by his affections. To have liberated Crasweller at this moment, I would have walked off myself, oh, so willingly, to the college! I was tearing my own heart to pieces;-but I remembered Columbu

or you t

for him,-and in a certain sense admiration, because he had so far conquered his fear of an unknown future as to promise to do this thing simply because he had said that he would do it. There was no high feeling as to future generations of his fellow-creatures, no grand idea that he was about to perform a great duty for the benefit of ma

lease, Pr

one so,-in inducing him to repudiate the falsehood by which he had endeavoured to escape. But I had not in the least succeeded in making him see the good which would come from his deposition. He was ready to become a martyr, because in years back he had said that he woul

hither with you from another country, and has lived with you through all the struggles and all the successes of a long career. But you have my word, and I will not depart from it, even to save my life. In a moment of weakness I was tempted to a weak lie.

w, Cras

my home till I have to leave it for the last time. Days and weeks me

with you, and be a brother to you,

ack had perhaps better leave Britannula for a time, and not come back till all shall be over. Then he may enjoy the lawns of Little Christchurch in peace,-unless, perchance, an

wer to decide that it should fall into partial abeyance. This I almost did. But when I had turned on my road to Little Christchurch, and was prepared to throw myself into Crasweller's arms, the idea of Galileo and Columbus, and their ultimate success, again filled my bosom. The moment had now come in which I might succeed. The first man was ready to go to the stake, and I had felt all along that the great difficulty would be in obtaining the willin

arrel; and as is customary on such occasions, I endeavoured to become specially gracious and communicative. I talked about the ship that had started on its homeward journey, and praised Lord Marylebone, and laughed at Mr Puddlebrane; but it was to no effect. Neither would Jack nor Mrs Neverbend say anything, and they ate their dinner gloomily till the attendant left the room. Then

u all going to t

esent occupies the mind of Gladstonopolis. The peopl

're taking too much upon yourself to say whether people will allow o

everbend, "I, at any rate, am o

"What I want to explain is, that I shall be there myse

n to your fat

r, and I don't see that father and son have anything to do with it. If I we

not in the

l the same, and I find myself

Crasweller's life from this most inhuman law

t here. It has been decided by the law; and that should be enough for you two, as it is enough for me. As for Jack, I wil

o do to the boy?" a

e to treat him like a father. If he attends this meeti

se!" shrieked

teau and go to New Zealand the day after to-morrow. I have business for you to transact with Macm

though the words were determined, there was a certain vac

nd perhaps too indulgent, to him. I now require that he shall proceed to New Zealand the day aft

; but I was determined that I would be stern. "You have heard my order," I said, "and you can have to-morrow to think about it. I advise you not to throw ov

at you will disinherit the

run, and I threw my hat in the air, was it not to me sweeter than if I had done it myself? Did I not even love him the better for swearing that he would make this fight for Crasweller? But yet it was necessary that I should command obedience, and, if possible, frighten him into subservience. We talk of a father's power, and know that the old Romans could punish filial disobedience by death; but a Britannulan father has a heart in his bosom which is more po

I were within the clapper of a mill; and her passion goes on increasing because she can never get a word from me. "Mr Neverbend, I tell you this,-you are going to make a fool of yourself. I think it my duty to tell you so, as your wife. Everybody else will think it. Who are you, to liken yourself to Galileo?-an old fellow of that kind who lived a thousand years ago, before Christianity had ever been invented. You have got nasty murderous thoughts in your mind, and want to kill poor Mr Crasweller, just out of pride, because you have said you would. Now, Jack is determined that you shan't, and I say that he is right. There is no reason why Jack shouldn't obey me as well as you. You will never be able to deposit Mr Crasweller,-not if you try it for a hundred years. The city won't let you do it; and if you have a grain of sense left in your head, you won't attempt it. Jack is determined to meet the men on the Town Flags the day after to-morrow, and I say that he is r