ONE:So in his latter days Reuben came back into the field of politics which he had abandoned in middle age. Once more his voice was heard in school-houses and mission-halls, pointing out their duty and profit to the men of Rye. He was offered, and accepted, a Vice-Presidentship of the Conservative Club. Politics had changed in many ways since he had last been mixed up in them. The old, old subjects that had come up at election after election��vote by ballot, the education of the poor, the extension of the franchise, Gladstone's free breakfast table��had all been settled, or deformed out of knowledge. The only old friend was the question of a tax on wheat, revived after years of quiescence��to rekindle in Reuben's old age dreams of an England where the corn should grow as the grass, a golden harvest from east to west, bringing wealth and independence to her sons.