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oth like something fresh." She hoped,
however, to foster a discussion, so that
they might really get further this weekend;
the opportunity was too good to
throw away.
"H'm!" Stanley murmured. "Felix
said some very queer things the other
night. He, too, might make ructions."
Oh, no !—Clara persisted—Felix had too
much good taste. She thought that something
might be coming out of this occasion,
something as it were national, that
would bear fruit. And watching Stanley
buttoning his braces, she grew enthusiastic.
For, think how splendidly everything
was represented ! Britto, with his
view that the thing had gone too far, and
The Freelands 161
have got Mr. Sleesor. If anybody knew
the Radical mind he did, and he could
give full force to what one always felt was
at the bottom of it—that the Radicals'
real supporters were the urban classes;
so that their policy must not go too far
with ' the Land,' for fear of seeming to
neglect the towns. For, after all, in the
end it was out of the pockets of the towns
that' the Land' would have to be financed,
and nobody really could expect the towns
Sir Gerald and Lady Malloring, also by all the little efforts we might make now
car from Joyfields; an early afternoon were no good, with Canada and those great
train brought three members of the Lower spaces to outbid anything we could do;
House, who liked a round of golf—Colonel though she could not admit that he was
Martlett, Mr. Sleesor, and Sir John Fanfar—with
their wives; also Miss Bawtrey,
right, there was a lot in what he said; he
had great gifts—and some day might—
an American who went everywhere; and who knew? Then there was Sir John—
Moorsome, the landscape-painter, a short, Clara pursued—who was almost the father
very heavy man who went nowhere, and of the new Tory policy: Assist the farmers
to buy their own land. that in almost perfect silence, which he
And Colonel
afterward avenged. By a train almost Martlett, representing the older Tory
sure to bring no one else came Literature policy of: What the devil would happen
in Public Affairs, alone, Henry Wiltram, to the landowners if they did ? Secretly
whom some believed to have been the (Clara felt sure) he would never go into a
very first to have ideas about the land. lobby to support that. He had said to
He was followed in the last possible train her: 'Look at my brother James's property;
if we bring this policy in, and the
by Cuthcott, the advanced editor, in his
habitual hurry, and Lady Maude Ughtred farmers take advantage, his house might
in her beauty. Clara was pleased, and stand there any day without an acre
said to Stanley, while dressing, that almost
round it.' Quite true—it might. The
every shade of opinion about the same might even happen to Becket. -
land was represented this week-end. She Stanley grunted.
was not, she said, afraid of anything, if
Exactly!—Clara went on: And that
she could keep Henry Wiltram and Cuthcott
apart. The House of Commons men
was the beauty of having got the Mallorings;
theirs was such a steady point of
would, of course, be all right. Stanley
view, and she was not sure that they
assented: "They'll be 'fed up' with talk.
weren't right, and the whole thing really
But how about Britto—he can sometimes
a question of model proprietorship.
be very nasty, and Cuthcott's been pretty
"H'm !" Stanley muttered. "Felix will
rough on him, in his rag."
have his knife into that."
Clara had remembered that, and she
was putting Lady Maude on one side of
Clara did not think that mattered.
The thing was to get everybody's opinion.
Cuthcott, and Moorsome on the other, so Even Mr. Moorsome's would be valuable
that he would be quite safe at dinner, and —if he weren't so terrifically silent, for he
afterward—Stanley must look out! must think a lot, sitting all day, as he did,
"What have you done with Nedda?" painting the land.
Stanley asked.
"Given her to Colonel Martlett, with
"He's a heavy ass," said Stanley.
Yes; but Clara did not wish to be narrow.
Sir John Fanfar on the other side; they
That was why it was so splendid to
to get anything out of it. Stanley paused
in the adjustment of his tie; his wife was
a shrewd woman.
"You've hit it there," he said. "Wiltram
will give it him hot on that, though."
Of course, Clara assented. And it was