"Look here, come and have a bit of dinner with me,
and talk things over a bit more pleasantly, eh? There's no use in
getting our rags out."
"Please excuse me," Brooks said. "I have arranged to dine elsewhere. I
do not wish to seem dictatorial or unreasonable, but I have just come
from Medchester, where the distress is, if anything, worse than ever.
It makes one's heart sick to walk the streets, and when I look into the
people's faces I seem to always hear that great shout of hope and
enthusiasm which your speech in the market-place evoked. You see, there
is only one real hope for these people, and that is legislation, and you
are the man directly responsible to them for that."
"I'll tell you what I'll do!" Mr. Henslow said, in a burst of
generosity. "I'll send another ten guineas to the Unemployed Fund."
"Take my advice and don't," Brooks answered, dryly. "They might be
reminded of the people who clamoured for bread and were offered a stone.
Do your duty here. Keep your pledges. Speak in the House with the same
passion and the same eloquence as when you sowed hope in the heart of
those suffering thousands.
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