"The cheque, Miss Pritchett's latest."
"Oh, that," said Hamlyn. "Two hundred, what we expected. I meant something else. I've got the new scheme to wake things up! The best thing we've done yet, my boy!"
Sam rubbed his hands. "What did I say this morning? I knew you'd do it, Pa. Well, let's have it."
Mr. Hamlyn sat back in his chair, willing to dally a moment with his triumph and enjoy the full savour of it.
"Why we never thought of it before," he said, "beats me entirely! Something suggested it to me to-night, and I've been wondering at our neglecting such a move."
"What is it then?"
"What about one of us going to the Mass and bringing away the consecrated wafer? Then a big public meeting's called and I show the people what we've got! The 'flour-and-water god' of the Romanists! Not the usual plan of producing a wafer we've bought from a shop, but the real thing, Sam! Then they'll all be able to see that there's no difference between before and after! It'll explode the whole thing and give the League an advertisement better than anything that's gone before!"
Sam looked very grave indeed. "It's a little bit too much, I'm afraid, Father," he said.
"What do you mean, my son?" answered the secretary in extreme and real surprise.
"Well, I don't know," Sam said doubtfully, "but I shouldn't like to meddle with it myself."