The Right Honourable Kirkstall Wilmot, as has been remarked, was a very busy man, and Stranleigh had no further communication with him. Politics means a continual fight and unrelenting vigilance on the part of those engaged in it, and Stranleigh saw by the papers that Wilmot was doing even more than his share. The seed the Minister had sown fell on good ground, for although his lordship was as indolent as the other was active, he occupied the delightful position of a wealthy man who had merely to give orders and see them efficiently carried out. Blake was the buffer between him and strenuous exertion, and the ex-journalist entered the fray with a vim, especially when he learned that he would have the privilege of dealing with workmen who, in case of any malingering, could be punished satisfactorily.
Not hearing from the Right Honourable regarding the legality of stocks, his lordship asked Blake to make investigation, and the solicitor whom Blake consulted said that if any man liked to pay the wages, he could place stocks all over his estate and hire men to sit in them.
So, presently, architects and builders were at work on the Yorkshire moors. The army tents stored away at Lannacombe coastguard station
