
or a General: not of much value, but useful in case of need. But he, like a
pretty woman, was under no obligation to contribute more than an ornamental
person to the common good. As to that, we count him by tens of thousands now,
and his footmen and maids by hundreds of thousands. The rich love the nation
through their possessions; otherwise they have no country. If they loved the
country they would care for the people. Their hearts are eaten up by property. I
am bidden to hold my tongue because I have no knowledge. When men who have this
knowledge will go down to the people, speak to them, consult and argue with
them, and come into suitable relations with them - I don't say of lords and
retainers, but of knowers and doers, leaders and followers - out of
consideration for public safety, if not for the common good, I shall hang back
gladly; though I won't hear misstatements. My fault is, that I am too moderate.
I should respect myself more if I deserved their hatred. This flood of luxury,
which is, as Dr. Shrapnel says, the body's drunkenness and the soul's death,
cries for execration. I 'm too moderate. But I shall quit the country: I've no
place here.«
    Rosamund ahemed. »France, Nevil? I should hardly think that France would
please you, in the present state of things over there.«
    Half cynically, with great satisfaction, she had watched him fretting at the
savoury morsels of her pie with a fork like a sparrow-beak during the monologue
that would have been so dreary to her but for her appreciation of the wholesome
effect of the letting off of steam, and her admiration of the fire of his eyes.
After finishing his plate he had less the look of a ship driving on to reefs -
one of his images of the country. He called for claret and water, sighing as he
munched bread in vast portions, evidently conceiving that to eat unbuttered
bread was to abstain from luxury. He praised passingly the quality of the bread.
It came from Steynham, and so did the milk and cream, the butter, chicken and
eggs. He was good enough not to object to the expenditure upon the transmission
of the accustomed dainties. Altogether the gradual act of nibbling had conduced
to his eating remarkably well - royally. Rosamund's more than half-cynical ideas
of men, and her custom of wringing unanimous verdicts from a jury of temporary
impressions, inclined her to imagine
