 you to tell me how the views it expresses
can be reconciled with those you have maintained in conversation with my
father.«
    He drew from his pocket the incriminating periodical, turned it back at the
article headed The New Sophistry, and held it out for inspection.
    »Perhaps you would like to refresh your memory.«
    »Needless, thank you,« returned Godwin, with a smile - in which the vanity
of an author had its part.
    Had Marcella betrayed him? He had supposed she knew nothing of this article,
but Earwaker had perhaps spoken of it to Moxey before receiving the injunction
of secrecy. On the other hand, it might be Earwaker himself from whom Warricombe
had derived his information. Not impossible for the men to meet, and Earwaker's
indignation might have led him to disregard a friend's confidence.
    The details mattered little. He was face to face with the most serious
danger that could befall him, and already he had strung himself to encounter it.
Yet even in the same moment he asked, »Is it worth while?«
    »Did you write this?« Buckland inquired.
    »Yes, I wrote it.«
    »Then I wait for your explanation.«
    »You mustn't expect me to enter upon an elaborate defence,« Godwin replied,
taking his pipe from the mantelpiece and beginning to fill it. »A man charged
with rascality can hardly help getting excited - and that excitement, to one in
your mood, seems evidence against him. Please to bear in mind that I have never
declared myself an orthodox theologian. Mr. Warricombe is well acquainted with
my views; to you I have never explained them.«
    »You mean to say that my father knew of this article?«
    »No. I have not spoken of it.«
    »And why not?«
    »Because, for one thing, I shouldn't write in that way now; and, for
another, the essay seems to imply more than I meant when I did write it.«
    »Seems to imply -? I understand. You wish to represent that this attack on
M'Naughten involves no attack on Christianity?«
    »Not on Christianity as I understand it.«
    Buckland's face expressed profound disgust, but he controlled his speech.
    »Well, I foresaw this. You attacked a new sophistry, but there is a newer
sophistry still, and uncommonly difficult it is to deal with. Mr. Peak, I have a
plain word to say to you. More than a year ago you asked me for my goodwill
