He had cared nothing himself for tenant-right, and had acknowledged
to Mr. Monk that he could not understand in what it was that the
farmers were wronged. But he knew that Mr. Monk was a Cabinet
Minister, and he thought that Phineas was earning his salary. Then
there came some one who undeceived him, and the paternal bosom of
the doctor was dismayed. "I don't mean to interfere," he said in his
letter, "but I can hardly believe that you really intend to resign
your place. Yet I am told that you must do so if you go on with this
matter. My dear boy, pray think about it. I cannot imagine you are
disposed to lose all that you have won for nothing." Mary also wrote
to him. Mrs. Finn had been talking to her, and Mary had taught
herself to believe that after the many sweet conversations she
had had with a man so high in office as Phineas, she really did
understand something about the British Government. Mrs. Finn had
interrogated Mary, and Mary had been obliged to own that it was quite
possible that Phineas would be called upon to resign.
"But why, my dear? Heaven and earth! Resign two thousand a year!"
"That he may maintain his independence," said Mary proudly.
"Fiddlestick!" said Mrs. Finn. "How is he to maintain you, or himself
either, if he goes on in that way? I shouldn't wonder if he didn't
get himself all wrong, even now.
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