Eh, Master ?--these old pensioners of yours--in a procession?
The public is always sentimental." Master Blanchminster, rousing himself out of reverie, made guarded answer that such an exhibition might be instructive, historically, for schoolchildren.
"An institution like this, supported by endowments, don't need advertising, of course--not for its own sake," said Mr.Bamberger.
"I was thinking of what might be done indirectly for Merchester.
But--you'll excuse me, I must ride a notion when I get astride of one--St.Hospital would be no more than what we call an episode.
We'd start with Alfred the Great--maybe before him; work down to the Cathedral and its consecration and Sir John, here--that is, of course, his ancestor--swearing on the Cross to depart for Jerusalem." Sir John--a Whig by five generations of descent--glanced at Mr.
Bamberger uneasily.

He had turned Unionist when Mr.Gladstone embraced Home Rule; and now, rather by force of circumstance than by choice, he found himself Chairman of the Unionist Committee for Merchester; in fact he, more than any man, was responsible for Mr.
Bamberger's representing Merchester in Parliament, and sometimes wondered how it had all come about.

He answered these rare questionings by telling himself that Disraeli, whose portrait hung in his library, had also been a Jew.

But he did not quite understand it, or what there was in Mr.Bamberger that personally repelled him.
At any rate Sir John was a pure Whig and to your pure Whig personal dignity is everything.
"So long," murmured he, "as you don't ask me to dress up and make myself a figure of fun." The Bishop had already put the suggestion, so far as it concerned him, aside with a tolerant smile, which encouraged everything from which he, _bien entendu_, was omitted.
Mr.Bamberger, scanning the line of faces with a Jew's patient cunning, at length encountered the eye of Mr.Colt, who at the farther end of the high table was leaning forward to listen.
"You're my man," thought Mr.Bamberger.

"Though I don't know your name and maybe you're socially no great shakes; a chaplain by your look, and High Church.