He may overturn a Government or be
himself thrown, by an unexpected jolt, under the wheels. The fiery steeds
never stop, and when one drops the reins, another grasps them, to be in
turn lost and forgotten in the mad race, wherein never a glance is cast
to the rear. The best brains in the country are called into requisition,
squeezed, and flung aside. With a lavish but indiscriminating hand are
thrown broadcast fame and dishonour, riches and disaster. Unbribable in
the ordinary sense of the word, the press will, for the accumulation of
the smallest coins of the realm, exaggerate a cholera scare and paralyze
the business of a nation; then it will turn on a corrupt Government and
rend it, although millions might be made by taking another course. It is
the terror of scoundrels and the despair of honest men.
Jennie Brewster, in the midst of her unavailing regrets, clenched her
little fist when she thought of Fleming. It is both customary and
consoling to place the blame on other shoulders than our own. Human
nature is such an erring quantity, that usually we can find a scapegoat
among our fellow-beings, who can be made responsible for any misdeeds or
failings which are so much a part of ourselves that they escape
recognition. If Fleming had only attended his own business, as a man
should, Wentworth would never have known that Jennie wrote for the
_Argus_, and Jennie might have had a friend in London who would have
added that spice of interest to her visit which usually accompanies the
friendship of an agreeable young man for a girl so pretty and
fascinating.
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