for him not to regard with repugnance a man who represented
the combative principle, even the triumph, of the uncultured classes. He was no
hidebound aristocrat; the liberal tendencies of his intellect led him to scorn
the pageantry of long-descended fools as strongly as he did the blind
image-breaking of the mob; but in a case of personal relations temperament
carried it over judgment in a very high-handed way. Youth and disappointment
weighed in the scale of unreason. Mutimer, on the other hand, though fortune
helped him to forbearance, saw, or believed he saw, the very essence of all he
most hated in this proud-eyed representative of a county family. His own
rough-sculptured comeliness corresponded to the vigour and practicality and zeal
of a nature which cared nothing for form and all for substance; the essentials
of life were to him the only things in life, instead of, as to Hubert Eldon, the
mere brute foundation of an artistic superstructure. Richard read clearly enough
the sentiments with which his visitor approached him; who that is the object of
contempt does not readily perceive it? His way of revenging himself was to
emphasise a tone of good fellowship, to make it evident how well he could afford
to neglect privileged insolence. In his heart he triumphed over the disinherited
aristocrat; outwardly he was civil, even friendly.
    Hubert had made this call with a special purpose.
    »I am charged by Mrs. Eldon,« he began, »to thank you for the courtesy you
have shown her during my illness. My own thanks likewise I hope you will accept.
We have caused you, I fear, much inconvenience.«
    Richard found himself envying the form and tone of this deliverance; he
gathered his beard in his hands and gave it a tug.
    »Not a bit of it,« he replied. »I am very comfortable here. A bedroom and a
place for work, that's about all I want.«
    Hubert barely smiled. He wondered whether the mention of work was meant to
suggest comparisons. He hastened to add -
    »On Monday we hope to leave the Manor.«
    »No need whatever for hurry,« observed Mutimer, good-humouredly. »Please
tell Mrs. Eldon that I hope she will take her own time.« On reflection this
seemed rather an ill-chosen phrase; he bettered it. »I should be very sorry if
she inconvenienced herself on my account.«
    »Confound the fellow's impudence!« was Hubert's mental comment. »He plays
the forbearing landlord.«
    His