"But in the Bible the animals were used for sacrifice; that's very
different." Bates said this, but felt that a point had been scored
against him in the poetry of Homer; the Old Testament was primeval, but
Homer, in spite of ancient date, seemed to bring with him the authority
of modern culture.

"If they were, the people feasted upon them all the same, and the
office of preparing them was the most honourable. I'm not claiming to be
a priest (I leave that to my respected brother); I claim my right in a
new country, where Adam has to delve again, to be a butcher and a
gentleman." All his words were hot and hasty.

"But ye see," said Bates, "in the towns here, things are beginning to
regulate themselves much in the shape they take in the old country."

"My brother cares more what people think than I do."

"And a verra good thing too; for with the majority there is wisdom," put
in Bates, keen and contentious.

"You think so, do you?"--with sarcasm.

"Ye must remember ye're young yet; your brother has seen more of the
world--"

Now Alec Trenholme had had no intention of telling what, to his mind,
was the worst of his brother's conduct, but here he slapped the table
and burst out angrily: