myself with proving that we owe not only Magna Charta, but our whole Empire—­Canada, Australia, and all the rest of them—­to our costive habits of body.  What befits a nation, however, does not always befit a man.  To crush, in a fit of chronic biliousness, the resistance of Bengal and add its land to the British Empire, may be a racial virtue.  To crush, in a fit of any kind, the resistance of our next door neighbour Mr. Robinson, and add his purse to our own, is an individual vice.  No!  I fail to discover any personal advantage to be gained from excess of bile.  The bilious eye sees intensely, no doubt, but in a distorted and narrow fashion; it is incapable of a generous outlook.  Cloudy, unserene!  A closing-up, instead of a widening-out.  The bowels of compassion:  what a wonderful old phrase!  They ought to be kept open.  I look around me, and see extraordinarily little goodwill among my fellow-creatures.  Here is Miss Wilberforce.  What she yearns for is the milk of human kindness—­gentle words, gentle dealing, from all of us.  Instead of that, every one is ready to cast stones at her.  She is treated like a pariah.  For my part I do not pass her by; I am not ashamed to consort with sinners, if such they be; I would like, if I could, to make her free and happy instead of imprisoning her in a place of self-reproach.  A healthy man is naturally well disposed, not on principle or from any divine inspiration but because his bodily organs are performing their proper functions.  His judgment is not warped by the black humours of indigestion.  He perceives that natural laws, however harsh they seem, are never so harsh as our amateurish attempts to circumvent them.  Modern philanthropy is an attempt of this nature.  It is crass emotionalism.  Regarded from the point of view of the race, your philanthropy is a disguised form of brutality.”

“Mr. Keith!”

“All sentimentalists are criminals.”

This perverse balderdash was getting on the nerves of the deputation.  It had one good effect, however.  They had been afraid, at first, of wasting Mr. Keith’s time; now they began to realize that he was wasting theirs.

“Speaking for myself, Mr. Keith, I should say that you are spoiling your case by over-statement, and that these reflections of yours are libels upon a class of men and women who devote their time and money, often their lives, to alleviating the distress of others.  However that may be, they are generalities.  We came to you about a practical matter, and an urgent one.  We want to remove a crying scandal from the island.  The habits of Miss Wilberforce, as I think I pointed out, are shocking to all decent folks.  I suppose you won’t deny that?”

“I remember your using those words.  They struck me as remarkable because, for my own part, I have not yet discovered any man, woman, or child who could shock me.  Some persons make a profession of being scandalized.  I am profoundly distrustful of them.  It is the prerogative of vulgarians to be shocked.  If I ever felt inclined to blush, it would not be a the crooked behaviour of men, but at their crooked intellectual processes.  Whenever a so-called scandal comes my way, I thank God for the opportunity of seeing something new and learning something to my advantage.”