A TROUBLESOME FIGHT 131 



poor devil wince in the pulpit. And all the quiet contempt 

 with which he treats the Squires and Parsons is extra- 

 ordinarily humorous in its manner. 



Well, the article has been a god-send to me, for I am very- 

 low, and cannot get my spirits up, about my poor Mother's 

 state. I have just returned from Torquay. I am also in 

 the most detestable position that a scientific man, or an 

 officer, or a gentleman can be with my Lord and Master, 

 Ayrton, whom I have officially denounced to the First Lord 

 of the Treasury for his conduct to me and to Kew ; and I 

 need not say that our fives are not the happiest after such 

 an explosion ! How it will all end God knows. I began the 

 battle with heart and spirit — and gloried in it — but my 

 Mother's condition has poisoned the whole, and I left my 

 sister very ill, even for her — so I am in a state of utter 

 disquiet, not caring a farthing what the Treasury or Ayrton 

 do. Wliat a poor lot we men are — a woman would be twice 

 as rational as I am, under twice the hard lines. God bless 

 you, dear old friend. 



The reference in the preceding paragraph is to a long- 

 drawn and perfectly gratuitous quarrel between Hooker and 

 his official superior who was appointed to the Board of Works 

 in Mr. Gladstone's Government of 1870. The story of this is 

 told in a subsequent chapter. 



