'd
be against the land and this country - eh, Sircome?«
    Sircome was an eminent miller who had considerable business transactions at
the manor, and appreciated Mr Scales's merits at a handsome percentage on the
yearly account. He was a highly honourable tradesman, but in this and in other
matters submitted to the institutions of his country; for great houses, as he
observed, must have great butlers. He replied to his friend Crowder
sententiously.
    »I say nothing. Before I bring words to market, I should like to see 'em a
bit scarcer. There's the land and there's trade - I hold with both. I swim with
the stream.«
    »Hey-day, Mr Sircome! that's a Radical maxim,« said Mr Christian, who knew
that Mr Sircome's last sentence was his favourite formula. »I advise you to give
it up, else it will injure the quality of your flour.«
    »A Radical maxim!« said Mr Sircome, in a tone of angry astonishment. »I
should like to hear you prove that. It's as old as my grandfather, anyhow.«
    »I'll prove it in one minute,« said the glib Christian. »Reform has set in
by the will of the majority - that's the rabble, you know; and the
respectability and good sense of the country, which are in the minority, are
afraid of Reform running on too fast. So the stream must be running towards
Reform and Radicalism; and if you swim with it, Mr Sircome, you're a Reformer
and a Radical, and your flour is objectionable, and not full weight - and being
tried by Scales, will be found wanting.«
    There was a roar of laughter. This pun upon Scales was highly appreciated by
every one except the miller and the butler. The latter pulled down his
waistcoat, and puffed and stared in rather an excited manner. Mr Christian's
wit, in general, seemed to him a poor kind of quibbling.
    »What a fellow you are for fence, Christian,« said the gardener. »Hang me,
if I don't think you're up to everything.«
    »That's a compliment you might pay Old Nick, if you come to that,« said Mr
Sircome, who was in the painful position of a man deprived of his formula.
    »Yes, yes,« said Mr Scales; »I'm no fool myself, and could parry a thrust if
I liked, but