"I am a socialist; a developer, not a destroyer."
"Ah!" said Badger. His exclamation was icy cold. "And you differed from your uncle on other points, did you not?"
"We took the liberty of honest men to differ."
"In religion?"
"Yes. He was a high churchman. I am—simply a Christian."
This avowal of a creed brought titters among the spectators, who apparently were accustomed to definitions narrower if more precise.
"And as a result of these quarrels your uncle disinherited you?"
"Sir?"
For a moment the prisoner's outburst of indignation checked the current of opinion which had been flowing swiftly against him.
"In one sentence you have managed to outrage the dead as well as the living—and to convey two impressions distinctly false. My uncle and I never quarreled, never! He was a father and more than a father to me. Neither did he disinherit me. It was his wish to assign me the whole property. I begged him to omit me without more than a memento or keepsake, that I might enter life as he had done, as every man should, untrammeled—but with the advantage, I feel sure, of an example and an inspiration given to few to enjoy. The sum left me was far in excess of my desires."