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maiden speech, and that makes it all the more plucky of him to take
up the cudgels in our defense. Here! Let me read it to you.
With the force of one who is fired with a new and hearty
admiration, he read the report. The speech was undoubtedly a fine
one; it was a grand protest against intolerance, a plea for
justice. The speaker had not hesitated for an instant to raise his
voice in behalf of a very unpopular cause, and his generous words,
even when read through the medium of an indifferent newspaper
report, awoke a strange thrill in Erica's heart. The utter
disregard of self, the nobility of the whole speech struck her
immensely. The man who had dared to stand up for the first time in
Parliament and speak thus, must be one in a thousand. Presently
came the most daring and disinterested touch of all.
The honorable member for Rilchester made what I can not but regard
as a most misleading and unnecessary remark with reference to the
recent occurrence in Hyde Park, and to Mr. Raeburn. I listened to
it with pain, for, if there can be degrees in the absolute evil of
injustice and lack of charity, it seems to me that the highest
degree is reached in that uncharitableness which tries to blacken
the character of an opponent. Since the subject has been
introduced, the House will, I hope, bear with me if for the sake of
justice I for a moment allude to a personal matter. Some years ago
I myself was an atheist, and I can only say that, speaking now from
the directly opposite standpoint, I can still look back and thank
Mr. Raeburn most heartily for the good service he did me. He was
the first man who ever showed me, by words and example combined,
that life is only noble when lived for the race. The statement
made by the honorable member for Rilchester seems to me as
incorrect as it was uncalled for. Surely this assembly will best
prove its high character not by loud religious protestations, not
by supporting a narrow, Pharisaical measure, but by impartiality,
by perfect justice, by the manifestation in deed and word of that
broadhearted charity, that universal brotherliness, which alone
deserves the name of Christianity.
The manifestation of the speaker's generosity and universal
brotherliness came like a light to Erica's darkness. It did not
end her struggle, but it did end her despair. A faint, indefinable
hope rose in her heart.
Mr. Farrant's maiden speech made a considerable stir; it met with
some praise and much blame. Erica learned from one of the papers
that he was Mr. Donovan Farrant, and at once felt convinced that he
was the Donovan whom both Charles Osmond and Brian had mentioned

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