Page:Eliot - Felix Holt, the Radical, vol. I, 1866.djvu/263

Rh ried floor, and a scrape of some chair legs, but no other answer.

"The good news I mean is, that a first-rate man, Mr Transome of Transoms Court, has offered himself to represent you in Parliament, sirs. I say you in particular, for what he has at heart is the welfare of the working man—of the brave fellows that wield the pickaxe, and the saw, and the hammer. He's rich—has more money than Garstin—but he doesn't want to keep it to himself. What he wants is, to make a good use of it, gentlemen. He's come back from foreign parts with his pockets full of gold. He could buy up the Debarrys if they were worth buying, but he's got something better to do with his money. He means to use it for the good of the working men in these parts. I know there are some men who put up for Parliament and talk a little too big. They may say they want to befriend the colliers, for example. But I should like to put a question to them. I should like to ask them, 'What colliers?' There are colliers up at Newcastle, and there are colliers down in Wales. Will it do any good to honest Tom, who is hungry in Sproxton, to hear that Jack at Newcastle has his bellyful of beef and pudding?"

"It ought to do him good," Felix burst in, with