“I am sure there was not,” said John Ball. “She is as true as the Gospel, and he is as false as the devil.”

“Oh, yes,” said the lawyer; “there’s no doubt about his falsehood. He’s one of those fellows for whom nothing is too dirty. Clergymen are like women. As long as they’re pure, they’re a long sight purer than other men; but when they fall, they sink deeper.”

“You needn’t be afraid of taking her word,” said John Ball. “If all women were as pure as she is, there wouldn’t be much amiss with them.” His eyes glittered as he spoke of her, and it was a pity that Margaret could not have heard him then, and seen him there.

“You don’t think she has been—just a little foolish, you know?”

“I think she was very foolish in not bidding such a man to go about his business, at once. But she has not been more so than what she owns. She is as brave as she is good, and I don’t think she would keep anything back.”

The result was that a letter was written by the lawyer to Mr Maguire, telling Mr Maguire that any further communication should be made to him; and also making a slight suggestion as to the pains and penalties which are incurred in the matter of a libel. Mr Maguire had dated his letter from Littlebath, and there the answer reached him. He had returned thither, having found that he could take no further immediate steps towards furthering his cause in London.

And now, what steps should he take next? More than once he thought of putting his own case into the hands of a lawyer; but what was a lawyer to do for him? An action for breach of promise was open to him, but he had wit enough to feel that there was very little chance of success for him in that line. He might instruct a lawyer to look into Miss Mackenzie’s affairs, and he thought it probable that he might find a lawyer to take such instructions. But there would be much expense in this, and, probably, no result. Advancing logically from one conclusion to another, he at last resolved that he must rush boldly into print, and lay the whole iniquity of the transaction open to the public.

He believed—I think he did believe—that the woman was being wronged. Some particle of such belief he had, and fostering himself with this, he sat himself down, and wrote a leading article.