"
"I would pursue our right for no other cause," said the
father. "After centuries of sorrow and degradation, it should
never be said, that we had no sympathy with the sad and the
oppressed."
"After centuries of sorrow and degradation," said Stephen,
"let it not be said that you acquired your right only to
create a baron or a squire."
"Nay, thou shalt have thy way, Stephen," said his companion,
smiling, "if ever the good hour come. As many acres as thou
choosest for thy new Jerusalem."
"Call it what you will, Walter," replied Stephen; "but if I
ever gain the opportunity of fully carrying the principle of
association into practice, I will sing 'Nunc me dimittas.'"
"'Nunc me dimittas,'" burst forth the Religious in a voice of
thrilling melody, and she pursued for some minutes the divine
canticle. Her companions gazed on her with an air of
affectionate reverence as she sang; each instant the stars
becoming brighter, the wide moor assuming a darker hue.
"Now, tell me, Stephen," said the Religious, turning her head
and looking round with a smile, "think you not it would be a
fairer lot to bide this night at some kind monastery, than to
be hastening now to that least picturesque of all creations, a
railway station.
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