CHAPTER VII.
A VISION.
Without another word Arminell left the cottage. As she did so, she passed Captain Saltren speaking to Captain Tubb. The former scarce touched his hat, but the latter saluted her with profound respect.
When she was out of hearing, Saltren, whose dark eyes had pursued her, said in a low, vibrating tone:
"There she goes—one of the Gilded Clique."
"I think you might have shown her more respect, man," said Tubb. "Honour to whom honour is due, and she is honourable."
"Why should I show respect to her? If she were a poor girl earning her bread, I would salute her with true reverence, for God hath chosen the poor, rich in faith. But is it not written that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for the rich to enter into heaven?"
"You've queer fancies, Cap'n."
"They are not fancies," answered Saltren; "as it is written, so I speak." Then he hesitated. Something was working in his mind, and for a moment he doubted whether to speak to one whom he did not regard as of the elect.
But Saltren was not a man who could restrain himself under an over-mastering conviction, and he burst forth in a torrent of words, and as he spoke his sombre eyes gleamed with excitement, and sparks lit up and flashed in them. Soft they usually were, and dreamy, but now, all at once they kindled into vehement life.
"I tell you, Tubb, the Lord hath spoken. The last days are at hand. I read my Bible and I read my newspaper, and I know that the aristocracy are a scandal and a burden to the country. Now the long-suffering of heaven will not tarry. It has been revealed to me that they are doomed to destruction."
"Revealed to you!"
"Yes, to me, an unworthy creature, as none know better than myself, full of errors and faults and blindness—and yet—to me. I was wrestling in spirit near the water's edge, thinking of these things, when, suddenly, I heard a voice from heaven calling me."
"How—by name? Did it call you Cap'n?"
Saltren hesitated. "I can't mind just now whether it said, Saltren, Saltren! or whether it said Mister, or whether Cap'n, or Stephen. I daresay I shall remember by-and-by when I come to turn it over in my mind. But all has come on me so freshly, so suddenly, that I am still dazed with the revelations."
"Go on," said Tubb, shaking his head dubiously.
"And when I looked up, I saw a book come flying down to me out of heaven, and I held up my hands to receive it, but it went by me into the water hard by where I was."
"Somebody chucked it at you," exclaimed the practical Tubb.
"I tell you, it came down out of heaven," said Saltren, impatiently. "You have no faith. I saw the book, and before I could lay hold of it, it went under the raft—I mean, it went down, down in the water, and I beheld it no more."
"What sort of a book was it?"
"I saw it but for a moment, as it floated with the back upwards, before it disappeared. There was a head on it and a title. I could not make out whose head, but I read the title, and the title was clear."
"What was it?"
"'The Gilded Clique.'"
"Clique! what was that?"
"A society, a party, and I know what was meant."
"Some one must have chucked the book," again reasoned the prosaic Tubb.
"It was not chucked, it fell. I was wrong to tell you of my vision. The revelation is not for such as you. I will say no more."
"And pray, what do you make out of this queer tale?" asked the captain of the lime quarry, with ill-disguised incredulity.
"Is it not plain as the day? I have had revealed to me that the doom of the British aristocracy is pronounced, the House of Lords, the privileged class—in a word, the whole Gilded Clique?"
Tubb shook his head.
"You'll never satisfy me it weren't chucked," he said. "But, to change the subject, Saltren. You have read and studied more than I have. Can you tell me what sort of a plant Quinquagesima is, and whether it is grown from seed, or cuttings, or layers?"