“But surely, Mr. Vialls, you don’t charge Mr. Quarrier with intemperance?”

“I do, Miss Mumbray,” replied the clergyman, sternly.  “Intemperance does not necessarily imply drunkenness.  It is intemperate to enter public-houses at all hours and in all places, even if the liquor partaken of has no obvious effect upon the gait or speech of the drinker.  I maintain”——­

“Mr. Quarrier does not go about as you would have us believe.”

“Serena!” interfered her mother.  “Do you contradict Mr. Vialls?”

“Yes, mother, I do, and every one ought to who knows that he is exaggerating.  I have heard this calumny before, and I have been told how it has arisen.  Mr. Quarrier takes a glass of beer when he is having a long country walk; and why he shouldn’t quench his thirst I’m sure I can’t understand.”

“Miss Mumbray,” said the clergyman, glaring at her, yet affecting forbearance, “you seem to forget that our cottagers are not so inhospitable as to refuse a glass of water to the weary pedestrian who knocks at their door.”

“I don’t forget it, Mr. Vialls,” replied Serena, who was trembling at her own boldness, but found a pleasure in persevering.  “And I know very well what sort of water one generally gets at cottages about here.  I remember the family at Rickstead that died one after another of their temperance beverage.”

“Forgive me!  That is not at all to the point.  Granting that the quality of the water is suspicious, are there not pleasant little shops where lemonade can be obtained?  But no; it is not merely to quench a natural thirst that Mr. Quarrier has recourse to those pestilent vendors of poison; the drinking of strong liquor has become a tyrant-habit with him.”

“I deny it, Mr. Vialls!” exclaimed the girl, almost angrily. (Mrs. Mumbray in vain tried to interpose, and the other ladies present were partly shocked, partly amused, into silence.) “If so, then my father is a victim to the habit of drink—­and so is Mr. Welwyn-Baker himself!”

This was laying a hand upon the Ark.  Mrs. Mumbray gave a little scream, and several “Oh’s!” were heard.  Mr. Vialls shook his head and smiled with grim sadness.

“My dear young lady, I fear we shall not understand each other.  I am far from being one of those who deny to ladies the logical faculty, but”——­

“But you feel that I am right, and that party prejudice has carried you too far!” interrupted Serena, rising from her chair.  “I had better go away, or I shall say disagreeable things about the Conservatives.  I am not one of them, and I should like that to be understood.”

She walked quietly from the room, and there ensued an awkward silence.

“Poor Serena!” breathed Mrs. Mumbray, with a deep sigh.  “She has fallen under the influence of Mrs. Quarrier—­a most dangerous person.  How such things come to pass I cannot understand.”

Mrs. Tenterden’s deep voice chimed in: