"I might have guessed that Apleon would have done this," he mused, "if he is, as I believe, the Anti-christ!"
He lifted the letter again, and read on:
"He wanted to take possession at once, and give me 5,000 pounds extra as a retiring fee for you. But I was obstinate on this point, and told his agent that he could not have possession until a month from today.
"Between this and then I shall hope to see you, dear Bastin. I want to see you very much on my own account. Your utterances from 'The Prophet's chair,' have aroused strange new thoughts and desires within me, and I want you to help me to a clearer view of the events of the near future. Then, as to the sundering of our business relations, you know me so well that you know I shall treat you handsomely when you retire from the Editorship.
"Talking of finance, what special use can money be to a man like me now, if all that you have lately written in the 'Courier'—as to the future—be true?"
The letter wound up most cordially. Then there followed a "P. S."
"My old friend, the Rector of the parish, who has always been keen on theatricals—he would have made a better actor than parson—is having the church seated with plush-covered tip-seats like a theatre, and proposes to have a performance every Sunday Evening, and as often in the week as funds, and interest in the affair, will warrant. Good Heavens! What has the world come to? Then only to think that England's King, is under the supreme rule of a Jew, whose antecedents no one appears to know—that is to say, previous to his meteoric-like appearance when he was twenty-five. 'How are the mighty fallen!"
"How, indeed!" murmured Ralph, with a sigh, as he let the letter fall on his table.
For a moment or two he stared straight in front of him, then, half aloud, he murmured:
"A month only! God help me to make good use of the thirty days! If I can but wake up some of the people of this land to the real position of affairs, I shall be only too thankful."