Edward's conviction cast a gloom over us at Magnolia Hall. Mr. Perry was particularly cast down by it, and did not seem to be able to take any comfort from the fact that Edward was to be treated as a prisoner of the first class.
"They are sending them to work underground in the coal mines now," he said, "and they feed them chiefly on skilly. These were reforms that were long since overdue, and I have perhaps had more to do with them than anybody. But, even with those alleviations, imprisonment is a terrible thing, and it goes to my heart that a son of mine should be treated in this way, after all I have done. I sometimes wonder whether it has been worth it, and whether I should not have done better for those dear to me if I had kept to the life to which I was born."
Mrs. Perry and Miriam both assured him that he would not, and presently managed to assuage the sharpness of his grief.
"You are one and all of you wonderful supports to a man who has taken up a thankless and difficult task," he said. "When I see you so cheerfully ready to bear your share of the burden, I must not shrink from doing my part. I am still whole-hearted in my sympathy with the rich. Blother, old friend, bring up a bottle of champagne—two bottles. I must not falter. I cannot go to prison, but I can and will continue to play my part in the great work."
Blother brought the champagne. He was much moved, and put all the trouble down to the malignity of Lord Potter.
"No one would have taken any notice of Edward's foolish little game if Potter hadn't forced them to," he said. "It is well known that Edward is a quite harmless crank, and for your sake, Perry, they ought to have left him alone. But don't take on about it. You won't find yourself any the less regarded because of this, and when young Edward comes back to us, we must try to keep him in better order."
Mr. Blother was right in saying that no one thought the worse of Mr. Perry for the blow that had been dealt him. He received many tokens of sympathy from both public and private sources, and soon came to regard Edward's imprisonment with complete equanimity.
"I think this trial must have been sent to me for my good," he said to me two days later. "I am experiencing a wonderful calm of spirit in spite of it. I shall use the period of my poor Edward's incarceration as a breathing space, and shall give up as many of my activities as possible for the next month. When he returns to us, I think I shall persuade him to travel for a time, and after that we shall be able to return to our work together with renewed zest."