As if a man can be both honest and witty at the same time! It so happened, however, that the party to which Mr.Ayrton belonged had become greatly concerned in respect of an element that had just come to the surface to still further complicate the course of politics.

This was the Nonconformist Conscience--hitherto a _quantite negligeable_ in the calculations of the leaders, but now one that it appeared absolutely necessary to take into account as a factor.

To be sure, there were a good many people who put their tongues in their cheeks when any mention was made of the Nonconformist Conscience: they said it was no more to be taken seriously than the Spector on the Brocken or the Athanasian Creed.
It was only the trick of an electioneering agent desirous of escaping from an untenable position.
There were other persons, however (mostly Nonconformists), who were found ready to declare that the Nonconformist Conscience was a Great and Living Truth.

The only point upon which statesmen of all parties were agreed was that it was worth purchasing.

The Nonconformists themselves, upon whom the Great and Living Truth was sprung, had no notion at first that it could be turned into a negotiable security occupying as high a place in the market as, say, Argentine bonds.