It was quite worthy
of you. You remind me not to be a sluggard, Gashford, when the vineyard
is menaced with destruction, and may be trodden down by Papist feet. Let
the horses be saddled in half-an-hour. We must be up and doing!'
He said this with a heightened colour, and in a tone of such enthusiasm,
that the secretary deemed all further prompting needless, and withdrew.
--'Dreamed he was a Jew,' he said thoughtfully, as he closed the bedroom
door. 'He may come to that before he dies. It's like enough. Well! After
a time, and provided I lost nothing by it, I don't see why that religion
shouldn't suit me as well as any other. There are rich men among the
Jews; shaving is very troublesome;--yes, it would suit me well enough.
For the present, though, we must be Christian to the core. Our prophetic
motto will suit all creeds in their turn, that's a comfort.' Reflecting
on this source of consolation, he reached the sitting-room, and rang the
bell for breakfast.
Lord George was quickly dressed (for his plain toilet was easily made),
and as he was no less frugal in his repasts than in his Puritan attire,
his share of the meal was soon dispatched. The secretary, however, more
devoted to the good things of this world, or more intent on sustaining
his strength and spirits for the sake of the Protestant cause, ate
and drank to the last minute, and required indeed some three or four
reminders from John Grueby, before he could resolve to tear himself away
from Mr Willet's plentiful providing.
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