Page:The council of seven.djvu/203

 This young man Endor, out of date as he was, a rather tragic anachronism in that cénacle sprawling, dozing and sneering around him, was a voice from the past. He had not the ear of the House it was true. The simple fact was, the House no longer possessed an ear; it had no longer the power to react to style or tradition. Demosthenes himself could not have pierced these professional hardbakes, who ran the country on the lines of their trade-unions. The British House of Commons was now the most soulless and vulgar of all assemblies; the U. P. had castrated it; but the prime minister, at any rate, was still able to recognize the divine fire.

Moreover, the flame burning in the heart of this young man, John Endor, set him thinking.