 gun; swarms of harryers and worriers known to be kept ready for
immediate service; readiness for the offensive in case of war - there 's the
best defence against a declaration of war by a foreign State.«
    »I like to hear you, Nevil,« said Cecilia, beaming: »Papa thinks we have a
miserable army - in numbers. He says, the wealthier we become the more difficult
it is to recruit able-bodied men on the volunteering system. Yet the wealthier
we are the more an army is wanted, both to defend our wealth and to preserve
order. I fancy he half inclines to compulsory enlistment. Do speak to him on
that subject.«
    Cecilia must have been innocent of a design to awaken the fire-flash in
Nevil's eyes. She had no design, but hostility was latent, and hence perhaps the
offending phrase.
    He nodded and spoke coolly. »An army to preserve order? So, then, an army to
threaten civil war!«
    »To crush revolutionists.«
    »Agitators, you mean. My dear good old colonel - I have always loved him -
must not have more troops at his command.«
    »Do you object to the drilling of the whole of the people?«
    »Does not the colonel, Cecilia? I am sure he does in his heart, and, for
different reasons, I do. He won't trust the working-classes, nor I the middle.«
    »Does Dr. Shrapnel hate the middle-class?«
    »Dr. Shrapnel cannot hate. He and I are of opinion, that as the middle-class
are the party in power, they would not, if they knew the use of arms, move an
inch farther in Reform, for they would no longer be in fear of the class below
them.«
    »But what horrible notions of your country have you, Nevil! It is dreadful
to hear. Oh! do let us avoid politics for ever. Fear!«
    »All concessions to the people have been won from fear.«
    »I have not heard so.«
    »I will read it to you in the History of England.«
    »You paint us in a condition of Revolution.«
    »Happily it 's not a condition unnatural to us. The danger would be in not
letting it be progressive, and there 's a little danger too at times in our
slowness. We change our blood or we perish.«
    »Dr. Shrapnel?«
    »Yes, I have heard Dr. Shrapnel say that. And
