enigmaticalquality
in
them
.
Even
my
uncle
was
momentarily
embarrassed
,
I
think
,
by
that
invincibly
self-complacent
expression
.
It
was
just
as
though
,
after
all
,
he
had
not
bought
them
up
and
replaced
them
altogether
;
as
though
that
,
secretly
,
they
knew
better
and
could
smile
at
him
.
The
spirit
of
the
place
was
akin
to
Bladesover
,
but
touched
with
something
older
and
remoter
.
That
armour
that
stood
about
had
once
served
in
tilt-yards
,
if
indeed
it
had
not
served
in
battle
,
and
this
family
had
sent
its
blood
and
treasure
,
time
after
time
,
upon
the
most
romantic
quest
in
history
,
to
Palestine
.
Dreams
,
loyalties
,
place
and
honour
,
how
utterly
had
it
all
evaporated
,
leaving
,
at
last
,
the
final
expression
of
its
spirit
,
these
quaint
painted
smiles
,
these
smiles
of
triumphant
completion
!
It
had
evaporated
,
indeed
,
long
before
the
ultimate
Durgan
had
died
,
and
in
his
old
age
he
had
cumbered
the
place
with
Early
Victorian
cushions
and
carpets
and
tapestry
table-cloths
and
invalid
appliances
of
a
type
even
more
extinct
,
it
seemed
to
us
,
than
the
crusades
...
.
Yes
,
it
was
different
from
Bladesover
.
"
Bit
stuffy
,
George
,
"
said
my
uncle
.
"
They
had
n't
much
idea
of
ventilation
when
this
was
built
.
"
One
of
the
panelled
rooms
was
half-filled
with
presses
and
a
four-poster
bed
.
"
Might
be
the
ghost
room
,
"
said
my
uncle
;
but
it
did
not
seem
to
me
that
so
retiring
a
family
as
the
Durgans
,
so
old
and
completely
exhausted
a
family
as
the
Durgans
,
was
likely
to
haunt
anybody
.
What
living
thing
now
had
any
concern
with
their
honour
and
judgments
and
good
and
evil
deeds
?
Ghosts
and
witchcraft
were
a
later
innovation-that
fashion
came
from
Scotland
with
the
Stuarts
.
Afterwards
,
prying
for
epitaphs
,
we
found
a
marble
crusader
with
a
broken
nose
,
under
a
battered
canopy
of
fretted
stone
,
outside
the
restricted
limits
of
the
present
Duffield
church
,
and
half
buried
in
nettles
.
"
Ichabod
,
"
said
my
uncle
.
"
Eh
?
We
shall
be
like
that
,
Susan
,
some
day
...
.
I
'm
going
to
clean
him
up
a
bit
and
put
a
railing
to
keep
off
the
children
.
"
"
Old
saved
at
the
eleventh
hour
,
"
said
my
aunt
,
quoting
one
of
the
less
successful
advertisements
of
Tono-Bungay
.
But
I
do
n't
think
my
uncle
heard
her
.
It
was
by
our
captured
crusader
that
the
vicar
found
us
.
He
came
round
the
corner
at
us
briskly
,
a
little
out
of
breath
.
He
had
an
air
of
having
been
running
after
us
since
the
first
toot
of
our
horn
had
warned
the
village
of
our
presence
.
He
was
an
Oxford
man
,
clean-shaven
,
with
a
cadaverous
complexion
and
a
guardedly
respectful
manner
,
a
cultivated
intonation
,
and
a
general
air
of
accommodation
to
the
new
order
of
things
.
These
Oxford
men
are
the
Greeks
of
our
plutocratic
empire
.
He
was
a
Tory
in
spirit
,
and
what
one
may
call
an
adapted
Tory
by
stress
of
circumstances
;
that
is
to
say
,
he
was
no
longer
a
legitimist
;
he
was
prepared
for
the
substitution
of
new
lords
for
old
.
We
were
pill
vendors
he
knew
,
and
no
doubt
horribly
vulgar
in
soul
;
but
then
it
might
have
been
some
polygamous
Indian
rajah
,
a
great
strain
on
a
good
man
's
tact
,
or
some
Jew
with
an
inherited
expression
of
contempt
.
Anyhow
,
we
were
English
,
and
neither
Dissenters
nor
Socialists
,
and
he
was
cheerfully
prepared
to
do
what
he
could
to
make
gentlemen
of
both
of
us
.
He
might
have
preferred
Americans
for
some
reasons
;
they
are
not
so
obviously
taken
from
one
part
of
the
social
system
and
dumped
down
in
another
,
and
they
are
more
teachable
;
but
in
this
world
we
cannot
always
be
choosers
.
So
he
was
very
bright
and
pleasant
with
us
,
showed
us
the
church
,
gossiped
informingly
about
our
neighbours
on
the
countryside-Tux
,
the
banker
;
Lord
Boom
,
the
magazine
and
newspaper
proprietor
;
Lord
Carnaby
,
that
great
sportsman
,
and
old
Lady
Osprey
.
And
finally
he
took
us
by
way
of
a
village
lane-three
children
bobbed
convulsively
with
eyes
of
terror
for
my
uncle-through
a
meticulous
garden
to
a
big
,
slovenly
Vicarage
with
faded
Victorian
furniture
and
a
faded
Victorian
wife
,
who
gave
us
tea
and
introduced
us
to
a
confusing
family
dispersed
among
a
lot
of
disintegrating
basket
chairs
upon
the
edge
of
a
well-used
tennis
lawn
.
These
people
interested
me
.
They
were
a
common
type
,
no
doubt
,
but
they
were
new
to
me
.
There
were
two
lank
sons
who
had
been
playing
singles
at
tennis
,
red-eared
youths
growing
black
moustaches
,
and
dressed
in
conscientiously
untidy
tweeds
and
unbuttoned
and
ungirt
Norfolk
jackets
.
There
were
a
number
of
ill-nourished-looking
daughters
,
sensible
and
economical
in
their
costume
,
the
younger
still
with
long
,
brown-stockinged
legs
,
and
the
eldest
present-there
were
,
we
discovered
,
one
or
two
hidden
away-displaying
a
large
gold
cross
and
other
aggressive
ecclesiastical
symbols
;
there
were
two
or
three
fox-terriers
,
a
retrieverish
mongrel
,
and
an
old
,
bloody-eyed
and
very
evil-smelling
St.
Bernard
.
There
was
a
jackdaw
.
There
was
,
moreover
,
an
ambiguous
,
silent
lady
that
my
aunt
subsequently
decided
must
be
a
very
deaf
paying
guest
.
Two
or
three
other
people
had
concealed
themselves
at
our
coming
and
left
unfinished
teas
behind
them
.
Rugs
and
cushions
lay
among
the
chairs
,
and
two
of
the
latter
were
,
I
noted
,
covered
with
Union
Jacks
.
The
vicar
introduced
us
sketchily
,
and
the
faded
Victorian
wife
regarded
my
aunt
with
a
mixture
of
conventional
scorn
and
abject
respect
,
and
talked
to
her
in
a
languid
,
persistent
voice
about
people
in
the
neighbourhood
whom
my
aunt
could
not
possibly
know
.
My
aunt
received
these
personalia
cheerfully
,
with
her
blue
eyes
flitting
from
point
to
point
,
and
coming
back
again
and
again
to
the
pinched
faces
of
the
daughters
and
the
cross
upon
the
eldest
's
breast
.
Encouraged
by
my
aunt
's
manner
,
the
vicar
's
wife
grew
patronising
and
kindly
,
and
made
it
evident
that
she
could
do
much
to
bridge
the
social
gulf
between
ourselves
and
the
people
of
family
about
us
.
I
had
just
snatches
of
that
conversation
.
"
Mrs.
Merridew
brought
him
quite
a
lot
of
money
.
Her
father
,
I
believe
,
had
been
in
the
Spanish
wine
trade-quite
a
lady
though
.
And
after
that
he
fell
off
his
horse
and
cracked
his
brain
pan
and
took
to
fishing
and
farming
.
I
'm
sure
you
'll
like
to
know
them
.
He
's
most
amusing
...
.
The
daughter
had
a
disappointment
and
went
to
China
as
a
missionary
and
got
mixed
up
in
a
massacre
.
"
...
"
The
most
beautiful
silks
and
things
she
brought
back
,
you
'd
hardly
believe
!
"
"
Yes
,
they
gave
them
to
propitiate
her
.
You
see
,
they
did
n't
understand
the
difference
,
and
they
thought
that
as
they
'd
been
massacring
people
,
THEY
'D
be
massacred
.
They
did
n't
understand
the
difference
Christianity
makes
.
"
...
"
Seven
bishops
they
've
had
in
the
family
!
"
"
Married
a
Papist
and
was
quite
lost
to
them
.
"
...
"
He
failed
some
dreadful
examination
and
had
to
go
into
the
militia
.
"
...
"
So
she
bit
his
leg
as
hard
as
ever
she
could
and
he
let
go
.
"
...
"
Had
four
of
his
ribs
amputated
.
"
...
"
Caught
meningitis
and
was
carried
off
in
a
week
.
"
"
Had
to
have
a
large
piece
of
silver
tube
let
into
his
throat
,
and
if
he
wants
to
talk
he
puts
his
finger
on
it
.
It
makes
him
so
interesting
,
I
think
.
You
feel
he
's
sincere
somehow
.
A
most
charming
man
in
every
way
.
"
"
Preserved
them
both
in
spirits
very
luckily
,
and
there
they
are
in
his
study
,
though
of
course
he
does
n't
show
them
to
everybody
.
"
The
silent
lady
,
unperturbed
by
these
apparently
exciting
topics
,
scrutinised
my
aunt
's
costume
with
a
singular
intensity
,
and
was
visibly
moved
when
she
unbuttoned
her
dust
cloak
and
flung
it
wide
.
Meanwhile
we
men
conversed
,
one
of
the
more
spirited
daughters
listened
brightly
,
and
the
youths
lay
on
the
grass
at
our
feet
.
My
uncle
offered
them
cigars
,
but
they
both
declined
,
-out
of
bashfulness
,
it
seemed
to
me
,
whereas
the
vicar
,
I
think
,
accepted
out
of
tact
.
When
we
were
not
looking
at
them
directly
,
these
young
men
would
kick
each
other
furtively
.
Under
the
influence
of
my
uncle
's
cigar
,
the
vicar
's
mind
had
soared
beyond
the
limits
of
the
district
.
"
This
Socialism
,
"
he
said
,
"
seems
making
great
headway
.
"
My
uncle
shook
his
head
.
"
We
're
too
individualistic
in
this
country
for
that
sort
of
nonsense
,
"
he
said
"
Everybody
's
business
is
nobody
's
business
.
That
's
where
they
go
wrong
.
"
"
They
have
some
intelligent
people
in
their
ranks
,
I
am
told
,
"
said
the
vicar
,
"
writers
and
so
forth
.
Quite
a
distinguished
playwright
,
my
eldest
daughter
was
telling
me-I
forget
his
name
.
"
Milly
,
dear
!
Oh
!
she
's
not
here
.
Painters
,
too
,
they
have
.
This
Socialist
,
it
seems
to
me
,
is
part
of
the
Unrest
of
the
Age
...
.
But
,
as
you
say
,
the
spirit
of
the
people
is
against
it
.
In
the
country
,
at
any
rate
.
The
people
down
here
are
too
sturdily
independent
in
their
small
way-and
too
sensible
altogether
.
"
...
"
It
's
a
great
thing
for
Duffield
to
have
Lady
Grove
occupied
again
,
"
he
was
saying
when
my
wandering
attention
came
back
from
some
attractive
casualty
in
his
wife
's
discourse
.
"
People
have
always
looked
up
to
the
house
and
considering
all
things
,
old
Mr.
Durgan
really
was
extraordinarily
good-extraordinarily
good
.
You
intend
to
give
us
a
good
deal
of
your
time
here
,
I
hope
.
"
"
I
mean
to
do
my
duty
by
the
Parish
,
"
said
my
uncle
.
"
I
'm
sincerely
glad
to
hear
it-sincerely
.
We
've
missed-the
house
influence
.
An
English
village
is
n't
complete-People
get
out
of
hand
.
Life
grows
dull
.
The
young
people
drift
away
to
London
.
"
He
enjoyed
his
cigar
gingerly
for
a
moment
.
"
We
shall
look
to
you
to
liven
things
up
,
"
he
said
,
poor
man
!
My
uncle
cocked
his
cigar
and
removed
it
from
his
mouth
.
"
What
you
think
the
place
wants
?
"
he
asked
.
He
did
not
wait
for
an
answer
.
"
I
been
thinking
while
you
been
talking-things
one
might
do
.
Cricket-a
good
English
game-sports
.
Build
the
chaps
a
pavilion
perhaps
.
Then
every
village
ought
to
have
a
miniature
rifle
range
.
"
"
Ye-ees
,
"
said
the
vicar
.
"
Provided
,
of
course
,
there
is
n't
a
constant
popping
.
"
...
"
Manage
THAT
all
right
,
"
said
my
uncle
.
"
Thing
'd
be
a
sort
of
long
shed
.
Paint
it
red
.
British
colour
.
Then
there
's
a
Union
Jack
for
the
church
and
the
village
school
.
Paint
the
school
red
,
too
,
p'raps
.
Not
enough
colour
about
now
.
Too
grey
.
Then
a
maypole
.
"
"
How
far
our
people
would
take
up
that
sort
of
thing-
"
began
the
vicar
.
"
I
'm
all
for
getting
that
good
old
English
spirit
back
again
,
"
said
my
uncle
.
"
Merrymakings
.
Lads
and
lasses
dancing
on
the
village
green
.
Harvest
home
.
Fairings
.
Yule
Log-all
the
rest
of
it
.
"
"
How
would
old
Sally
Glue
do
for
a
May
Queen
?
"
asked
one
of
the
sons
in
the
slight
pause
that
followed
.
"
Or
Annie
Glassbound
?
"
said
the
other
,
with
the
huge
virile
guffaw
of
a
young
man
whose
voice
has
only
recently
broken
.
"
Sally
Glue
is
eighty-five
,
"
explained
the
vicar
,
"
and
Annie
Glassbound
is
well-a
young
lady
of
extremely
generous
proportions
.
And
not
quite
right
,
you
know
.
Not
quite
right-here
.
"
He
tapped
his
brow
.
"
Generous
proportions
!
"
said
the
eldest
son
,
and
the
guffaws
were
renewed
.
"
You
see
,
"
said
the
vicar
,
"
all
the
brisker
girls
go
into
service
in
or
near
London
.
The
life
of
excitement
attracts
them
.
And
no
doubt
the
higher
wages
have
something
to
do
with
it
.
And
the
liberty
to
wear
finery
.
And
generally-freedom
from
restraint
.
So
that
there
might
be
a
little
difficulty
perhaps
to
find
a
May
Queen
here
just
at
present
who
was
really
young
and
er-pretty
...
.
Of
course
I
could
n't
think
of
any
of
my
girls-or
anything
of
that
sort
.
"
"
We
got
to
attract
'
em
back
,
"
said
my
uncle
.
"
That
's
what
I
feel
about
it
.
We
got
to
Buck-Up
the
country
.
The
English
country
is
a
going
concern
still
;
just
as
the
Established
Church-if
you
'll
excuse
me
saying
it
,
is
a
going
concern
.
Just
as
Oxford
is-or
Cambridge
.
Or
any
of
those
old
,
fine
old
things
.
Only
it
wants
fresh
capital
,
fresh
idees
and
fresh
methods
.
Light
railways
,
f'rinstance-scientific
use
of
drainage
.
Wire
fencing
machinery-all
that
.
"
The
vicar
's
face
for
one
moment
betrayed
dismay
.
Perhaps
he
was
thinking
of
his
country
walks
amids
the
hawthorns
and
honeysuckle
.
"
There
's
great
things
,
"
said
my
uncle
,
"
to
be
done
on
Mod'un
lines
with
Village
Jam
and
Pickles-boiled
in
the
country
.
"
It
was
the
reverberation
of
this
last
sentence
in
my
mind
,
I
think
,
that
sharpened
my
sentimental
sympathy
as
we
went
through
the
straggling
village
street
and
across
the
trim
green
on
our
way
back
to
London
.
It
seemed
that
afternoon
the
most
tranquil
and
idyllic
collection
of
creeper-sheltered
homes
you
can
imagine
;
thatch
still
lingered
on
a
whitewashed
cottage
or
two
,
pyracanthus
,
wall-flowers
,
and
daffodils
abounded
,
and
an
unsystematic
orchard
or
so
was
white
with
blossom
above
and
gay
with
bulbs
below
.
I
noted
a
row
of
straw
beehives
,
beehive-shaped
,
beehives
of
the
type
long
since
condemned
as
inefficient
by
all
progressive
minds
,
and
in
the
doctor
's
acre
of
grass
a
flock
of
two
whole
sheep
was
grazing
,
-no
doubt
he
'd
taken
them
on
account
.
Two
men
and
one
old
woman
made
gestures
of
abject
vassalage
,
and
my
uncle
replied
with
a
lordly
gesture
of
his
great
motoring
glove
...
.
"
England
's
full
of
Bits
like
this
,
"
said
my
uncle
,
leaning
over
the
front
seat
and
looking
back
with
great
satisfaction
.
The
black
glare
of
his
goggles
rested
for
a
time
on
the
receding
turrets
of
Lady
Grove
just
peeping
over
the
trees
.
"
I
shall
have
a
flagstaff
,
I
think
,
"
he
considered
.
"
Then
one
could
show
when
one
is
in
residence
.
The
villagers
will
like
to
know
.
"
...
I
reflected
.
"
They
will
"
I
said
.
"
They
're
used
to
liking
to
know
.
"
...
My
aunt
had
been
unusually
silent
.
Suddenly
she
spoke
.
"
He
says
Snap
,
"
she
remarked
;
"
he
buys
that
place
.
And
a
nice
old
job
of
Housekeeping
he
gives
me
!
He
sails
through
the
village
swelling
like
an
old
turkey
.
And
who
'll
have
to
scoot
the
butler
?
Me
!
Who
's
got
to
forget
all
she
ever
knew
and
start
again
?
Me
!
Who
's
got
to
trek
from
Chiselhurst
and
be
a
great
lady
?
Me
!
...
You
old
Bother
!
Just
when
I
was
settling
down
and
beginning
to
feel
at
home
.
"
My
uncle
turned
his
goggles
to
her
.
"
Ah
!
THIS
time
it
is
home
,
Susan
...
.
We
got
there
.
"
It
seems
to
me
now
but
a
step
from
the
buying
of
Lady
Grove
to
the
beginning
of
Crest
Hill
,
from
the
days
when
the
former
was
a
stupendous
achievement
to
the
days
when
it
was
too
small
and
dark
and
inconvenient
altogether
for
a
great
financier
's
use
.
For
me
that
was
a
period
of
increasing
detachment
from
our
business
and
the
great
world
of
London
;
I
saw
it
more
and
more
in
broken
glimpses
,
and
sometimes
I
was
working
in
my
little
pavilion
above
Lady
Grove
for
a
fortnight
together
;
even
when
I
came
up
it
was
often
solely
for
a
meeting
of
the
aeronautical
society
or
for
one
of
the
learned
societies
or
to
consult
literature
or
employ
searchers
or
some
such
special
business
.
For
my
uncle
it
was
a
period
of
stupendous
inflation
.
Each
time
I
met
him
I
found
him
more
confident
,
more
comprehensive
,
more
consciously
a
factor
in
great
affairs
.
Soon
he
was
no
longer
an
associate
of
merely
business
men
;
he
was
big
enough
for
the
attentions
of
greater
powers
.
I
grew
used
to
discovering
some
item
of
personal
news
about
him
in
my
evening
paper
,
or
to
the
sight
of
a
full-page
portrait
of
him
in
a
sixpenny
magazine
.
Usually
the
news
was
of
some
munificent
act
,
some
romantic
piece
of
buying
or
giving
or
some
fresh
rumour
of
reconstruction
.
He
saved
,
you
will
remember
,
the
Parbury
Reynolds
for
the
country
.
Or
at
times
,
it
would
be
an
interview
or
my
uncle
's
contribution
to
some
symposium
on
the
"
Secret
of
Success
,
"
or
such-like
topic
.
Or
wonderful
tales
of
his
power
of
work
,
of
his
wonderful
organisation
to
get
things
done
,
of
his
instant
decisions
and
remarkable
power
of
judging
his
fellow-men
.
They
repeated
his
great
mot
:
"
Eight
hour
working
day-I
want
eighty
hours
!
"
He
became
modestly
but
resolutely
"
public
.
"
They
cartooned
him
in
Vanity
Fair
.
One
year
my
aunt
,
looking
indeed
a
very
gracious
,
slender
lady
,
faced
the
portrait
of
the
King
in
the
great
room
at
Burlington
House
,
and
the
next
year
saw
a
medallion
of
my
uncle
by
Ewart
,
looking
out
upon
the
world
,
proud
and
imperial
,
but
on
the
whole
a
trifle
too
prominently
convex
,
from
the
walls
of
the
New
Gallery
.
I
shared
only
intermittently
in
his
social
experiences
.
People
knew
of
me
,
it
is
true
,
and
many
of
them
sought
to
make
through
me
a
sort
of
flank
attack
upon
him
,
and
there
was
a
legend
,
owing
,
very
unreasonably
,
partly
to
my
growing
scientific
reputation
and
partly
to
an
element
of
reserve
in
my
manner
,
that
I
played
a
much
larger
share
in
planning
his
operations
than
was
actually
the
case
.
This
led
to
one
or
two
very
intimate
private
dinners
,
to
my
inclusion
in
one
or
two
house
parties
and
various
odd
offers
of
introductions
and
services
that
I
did
n't
for
the
most
part
accept
.
Among
other
people
who
sought
me
in
this
way
was
Archie
Garvell
,
now
a
smart
,
impecunious
soldier
of
no
particular
distinction
,
who
would
,
I
think
,
have
been
quite
prepared
to
develop
any
sporting
instincts
I
possessed
,
and
who
was
beautifully
unaware
of
our
former
contact
.
He
was
always
offering
me
winners
;
no
doubt
in
a
spirit
of
anticipatory
exchange
for
some
really
good
thing
in
our
more
scientific
and
certain
method
of
getting
something
for
nothing
...
.
In
spite
of
my
preoccupation
with
my
experiments
,
work
,
I
did
,
I
find
now
that
I
come
to
ransack
my
impressions
,
see
a
great
deal
of
the
great
world
during
those
eventful
years
;
I
had
a
near
view
of
the
machinery
by
which
an
astounding
Empire
is
run
,
rubbed
shoulders
and
exchanged
experiences
with
bishops
and
statesmen
,
political
women
and
women
who
were
not
political
,
physicians
and
soldiers
,
artists
and
authors
,
the
directors
of
great
journals
,
philanthropists
and
all
sorts
of
eminent
,
significant
people
.
I
saw
the
statesmen
without
their
orders
and
the
bishops
with
but
a
little
purple
silk
left
over
from
their
canonicals
,
inhaling
,
not
incensen
but
cigar
smoke
.
I
could
look
at
them
all
the
better
because
,
for
the
most
part
,
they
were
not
looking
at
me
but
at
my
uncle
,
and
calculating
consciously
or
unconsciously
how
they
might
use
him
and
assimilate
him
to
their
system
,
the
most
unpremeditated
,
subtle
,
successful
and
aimless
plutocracy
that
ever
encumbered
the
destinies
of
mankind
.
Not
one
of
them
,
so
far
as
I
could
see
,
until
disaster
overtook
him
,
resented
his
lies
,
his
almost
naked
dishonesty
of
method
,
the
disorderly
disturbance
of
this
trade
and
that
,
caused
by
his
spasmodic
operations
.
I
can
see
them
now
about
him
,
see
them
polite
,
watchful
,
various
;
his
stiff
compact
little
figure
always
a
centre
of
attention
,
his
wiry
hair
,
his
brief
nose
,
his
under-lip
,
electric
with
self-confidence
.
Wandering
marginally
through
distinguished
gatherings
,
I
would
catch
the
whispers
:
"
That
's
Mr.
Ponderevo
!
"
"
The
little
man
?
"
"
Yes
,
the
little
bounder
with
the
glasses
.
"
"
They
say
he
's
made-
"
...
Or
I
would
see
him
on
some
parterre
of
a
platform
beside
my
aunt
's
hurraying
hat
,
amidst
titles
and
costumes
,
"
holding
his
end
up
,
"
as
he
would
say
,
subscribing
heavily
to
obvious
charities
,
even
at
times
making
brief
convulsive
speeches
in
some
good
cause
before
the
most
exalted
audiences
.
"
Mr.
Chairman
,
your
Royal
Highness
,
my
Lords
,
Ladies
and
Gentlemen
,
"
he
would
begin
amidst
subsiding
applause
and
adjust
those
obstinate
glasses
and
thrust
back
the
wings
of
his
frock-coat
and
rest
his
hands
upon
his
hips
and
speak
his
fragment
with
ever
and
again
an
incidental
Zzzz
.
His
hands
would
fret
about
him
as
he
spoke
,
fiddle
his
glasses
,
feel
in
his
waistcoat
pockets
;
ever
and
again
he
would
rise
slowly
to
his
toes
as
a
sentence
unwound
jerkily
like
a
clockwork
snake
,
and
drop
back
on
his
heels
at
the
end
.
They
were
the
very
gestures
of
our
first
encounter
when
he
had
stood
before
the
empty
fireplace
in
his
minute
draped
parlour
and
talked
of
my
future
to
my
mother
.
In
those
measurelessly
long
hot
afternoons
in
the
little
shop
at
Wimblehurst
he
had
talked
and
dreamt
of
the
Romance
of
Modern
Commerce
.
Here
,
surely
,
was
his
romance
come
true
.
People
say
that
my
uncle
lost
his
head
at
the
crest
of
his
fortunes
,
but
if
one
may
tell
so
much
truth
of
a
man
one
has
in
a
manner
loved
,
he
never
had
very
much
head
to
lose
.
He
was
always
imaginative
,
erratic
,
inconsistent
,
recklessly
inexact
,
and
his
inundation
of
wealth
merely
gave
him
scope
for
these
qualities
.
It
is
true
,
indeed
,
that
towards
the
climax
he
became
intensely
irritable
at
times
and
impatient
of
contradiction
,
but
that
,
I
think
,
was
rather
the
gnawing
uneasiness
of
sanity
than
any
mental
disturbance
.
But
I
find
it
hard
either
to
judge
him
or
convey
the
full
development
of
him
to
the
reader
.
I
saw
too
much
of
him
;
my
memory
is
choked
with
disarranged
moods
and
aspects
.
Now
he
is
distended
with
megalomania
,
now
he
is
deflated
,
now
he
is
quarrelsome
,
now
impenetrably
self-satisfied
,
but
always
he
is
sudden
,
jerky
,
fragmentary
,
energetic
,
and-in
some
subtle
fundamental
way
that
I
find
difficult
to
define-absurd
.
There
stands
out-because
of
the
tranquil
beauty
of
its
setting
perhaps-a
talk
we
had
in
the
veranda
of
the
little
pavilion
near
my
worksheds
behind
Crest
Hill
in
which
my
aeroplanes
and
navigable
balloons
were
housed
.
It
was
one
of
many
similar
conversations
,
and
I
do
not
know
why
it
in
particular
should
survive
its
fellows
.
It
happens
so
.
He
had
come
up
to
me
after
his
coffee
to
consult
me
about
a
certain
chalice
which
in
a
moment
of
splendour
and
under
the
importunity
of
a
countess
he
had
determined
to
give
to
a
deserving
church
in
the
east-end
.
I
,
in
a
moment
of
even
rasher
generosity
,
had
suggested
Ewart
as
a
possible
artist
.
Ewart
had
produced
at
once
an
admirable
sketch
for
the
sacred
vessel
surrounded
by
a
sort
of
wreath
of
Millies
with
open
arms
and
wings
and
had
drawn
fifty
pounds
on
the
strength
of
it
.
After
that
came
a
series
of
vexatious
delays
.
The
chalice
became
less
and
less
of
a
commercial
man
's
chalice
,
acquired
more
and
more
the
elusive
quality
of
the
Holy
Grail
,
and
at
last
even
the
drawing
receded
.
My
uncle
grew
restive
...
.
"
You
see
,
George
,
they
'll
begin
to
want
the
blasted
thing
!
"
"
What
blasted
thing
?
"
"
That
chalice
,
damn
it
!
They
're
beginning
to
ask
questions
.
It
is
n't
Business
,
George
.
"
"
It
's
art
,
"
I
protested
,
"
and
religion
.
"
"
That
's
all
very
well
.
But
it
's
not
a
good
ad
for
us
,
George
,
to
make
a
promise
and
not
deliver
the
goods
...
.
I
'll
have
to
write
off
your
friend
Ewart
as
a
bad
debt
,
that
's
what
it
comes
to
,
and
go
to
a
decent
firm
.
"
...
We
sat
outside
on
deck
chairs
in
the
veranda
of
the
pavilion
,
smoked
,
drank
whisky
,
and
,
the
chalice
disposed
of
,
meditated
.
His
temporary
annoyance
passed
.
It
was
an
altogether
splendid
summer
night
,
following
a
blazing
,
indolent
day
.
Full
moonlight
brought
out
dimly
the
lines
of
the
receding
hills
,
one
wave
beyond
another
;
far
beyond
were
the
pin-point
lights
of
Leatherhead
,
and
in
the
foreground
the
little
stage
from
which
I
used
to
start
upon
my
gliders
gleamed
like
wet
steel
.
The
season
must
have
been
high
June
,
for
down
in
the
woods
that
hid
the
lights
of
the
Lady
Grove
windows
,
I
remember
the
nightingales
thrilled
and
gurgled
...
.
"
We
got
here
,
George
,
"
said
my
uncle
,
ending
a
long
pause
.
"
Did
n't
I
say
?
"
"
Say
!
-when
?
"
I
asked
.
"
In
that
hole
in
the
To'nem
Court
Road
,
eh
?
It
's
been
a
Straight
Square
Fight
,
and
here
we
are
!
"
I
nodded
.
"
'
Member
me
telling
you-Tono-Bungay
?
...
.
Well
...
.
I
'd
just
that
afternoon
thought
of
it
!
"
"
I
've
fancied
at
times
;
"
I
admitted
.
"
It
's
a
great
world
,
George
,
nowadays
,
with
a
fair
chance
for
every
one
who
lays
hold
of
things
.
The
career
ouvert
to
the
Talons-eh
?
Tono-Bungay
.
Think
of
it
!
It
's
a
great
world
and
a
growing
world
,
and
I
'm
glad
we
're
in
it-and
getting
a
pull
.
We
're
getting
big
people
,
George
.
Things
come
to
us
.
Eh
?
This
Palestine
thing
.
"
...
He
meditated
for
a
time
and
Zzzzed
softly
.
Then
he
became
still
.
His
theme
was
taken
up
by
a
cricket
in
the
grass
until
he
himself
was
ready
to
resume
it
.
The
cricket
too
seemed
to
fancy
that
in
some
scheme
of
its
own
it
had
got
there
.
"
Chirrrrrrup
"
it
said
;
"
chirrrrrrup
.
"
"
Lord
,
what
a
place
that
was
at
Wimblehurst
!
"
he
broke
out
.
"
If
ever
I
get
a
day
off
we
'll
motor
there
,
George
,
and
run
over
that
dog
that
sleeps
in
the
High
Street
.
Always
was
a
dog
asleep
there-always
.
Always
...
I
'd
like
to
see
the
old
shop
again
.
I
daresay
old
Ruck
still
stands
between
the
sheep
at
his
door
,
grinning
with
all
his
teeth
,
and
Marbel
,
silly
beggar
!
comes
out
with
his
white
apron
on
and
a
pencil
stuck
behind
his
ear
,
trying
to
look
awake
...
Wonder
if
they
know
it
's
me
?
I
'd
like
'
em
somehow
to
know
it
's
me
.
"
"
They
'll
have
had
the
International
Tea
Company
and
all
sorts
of
people
cutting
them
up
,
"
I
said
.
"
And
that
dog
's
been
on
the
pavement
this
six
years-ca
n't
sleep
even
there
,
poor
dear
,
because
of
the
motor-horns
and
its
shattered
nerves
.
"
"
Movin
'
everywhere
,
"
said
my
uncle
.
"
I
expect
you
're
right
...
.
It
's
a
big
time
we
're
in
,
George
.
It
's
a
big
Progressive
On-coming
Imperial
Time
.
This
Palestine
business-the
daring
of
it
...
.
It
's
,
it
's
a
Process
,
George
.
And
we
got
our
hands
on
it
.
Here
we
sit-with
our
hands
on
it
,
George
.
Entrusted
.
"
It
seems
quiet
to-night
.
But
if
we
could
see
and
hear
.
"
He
waved
his
cigar
towards
Leatherhead
and
London
.
"
There
they
are
,
millions
,
George
.
Jes
'
think
of
what
they
've
been
up
to
to-day-those
ten
millions-each
one
doing
his
own
particular
job
.
You
ca
n't
grasp
it
.
It
's
like
old
Whitman
says-what
is
it
he
says
?
Well
,
anyway
it
's
like
old
Whitman
.
Fine
chap
,
Whitman
!
Fine
old
chap
!
Queer
,
you
ca
n't
quote
him
.
...
And
these
millions
are
n't
anything
.
There
's
the
millions
over
seas
,
hundreds
of
millions
,
Chinese
,
M'rocco
,
Africa
generally
,
'
Merica
...
.
Well
,
here
we
are
,
with
power
,
with
leisure
,
picked
out-because
we
've
been
energetic
,
because
we
've
seized
opportunities
,
because
we
've
made
things
hum
when
other
people
have
waited
for
them
to
hum
.
See
?
Here
we
are-with
our
hands
on
it
.
Big
people
.
Big
growing
people
.
In
a
sort
of
way
,
-Forces
.
"
He
paused
.
"
It
's
wonderful
,
George
,
"
he
said
.
"
Anglo-Saxon
energy
,
"
I
said
softly
to
the
night
.
"
That
's
it
,
George-energy
.
It
's
put
things
in
our
grip-threads
,
wires
,
stretching
out
and
out
,
George
,
from
that
little
office
of
ours
,
out
to
West
Africa
,
out
to
Egypt
,
out
to
Inja
,
out
east
,
west
,
north
and
south
.
Running
the
world
practically
.
Running
it
faster
and
faster
.
Creative
.
There
's
that
Palestine
canal
affair
.
Marvellous
idee
!
Suppose
we
take
that
up
,
suppose
we
let
ourselves
in
for
it
,
us
and
the
others
,
and
run
that
water
sluice
from
the
Mediterranean
into
the
Dead
Sea
Valley-think
of
the
difference
it
will
make
!
All
the
desert
blooming
like
a
rose
,
Jericho
lost
for
ever
,
all
the
Holy
Places
under
water
...
.
Very
likely
destroy
Christianity
.
"
...
He
mused
for
a
space
.
"
Cuttin
'
canals
,
"
murmured
my
uncle
.
"
Making
tunnels
...
.
New
countries
...
.
New
centres
...
.
Zzzz
...
.
Finance
...
.
Not
only
Palestine
.
"
I
wonder
where
we
shall
get
before
we
done
,
George
?
We
got
a
lot
of
big
things
going
.
We
got
the
investing
public
sound
and
sure
.
I
do
n't
see
why
in
the
end
we
should
n't
be
very
big
.
There
's
difficulties
but
I
'm
equal
to
them
.
We
're
still
a
bit
soft
in
our
bones
,
but
they
'll
harden
all
right
...
.
I
suppose
,
after
all
,
I
'm
worth
something
like
a
million
,
George
,
cleared
up
and
settled
.
If
I
got
out
of
things
now
.
It
's
a
great
time
,
George
,
a
wonderful
time
!
"
...
I
glanced
through
the
twilight
at
his
convexity
and
I
must
confess
it
struck
me
that
on
the
whole
he
was
n't
particularly
good
value
.
"
We
got
our
hands
on
things
,
George
,
us
big
people
.
We
got
to
hang
together
,
George
run
the
show
.
Join
up
with
the
old
order
like
that
mill-wheel
of
Kipling
's
.
(
Finest
thing
he
ever
wrote
,
George
;
I
jes
'
been
reading
it
again
.
Made
me
buy
Lady
Grove
.
)
Well
,
we
got
to
run
the
country
,
George
.
It
's
ours
.
Make
it
a
Scientific
Organised
Business
Enterprise
.
Put
idees
into
it
.
'
Lectrify
it
.
Run
the
Press
.
Run
all
sorts
of
developments
.
All
sorts
of
developments
.
I
been
talking
to
Lord
Boom
.
I
been
talking
to
all
sorts
of
people
.
Great
things
.
Progress
.
The
world
on
business
lines
.
Only
jes
'
beginning
.
"
...
He
fell
into
a
deep
meditation
.
He
Zzzzed
for
a
time
and
ceased
.
"
YES
,
"
he
said
at
last
in
the
tone
of
a
man
who
has
at
last
emerged
with
ultimate
solutions
to
the
profoundest
problems
.
"
What
?
"
I
said
after
a
seemly
pause
.
My
uncle
hung
fire
for
a
moment
and
it
seemed
to
me
the
fate
of
nations
trembled
in
the
balance
.
Then
he
spoke
as
one
who
speaks
from
the
very
bottom
of
his
heart-and
I
think
it
was
the
very
bottom
of
his
heart
.
"
I
'd
jes
'
like
to
drop
into
the
Eastry
Arms
,
jes
'
when
all
those
beggars
in
the
parlour
are
sittin
'
down
to
whist
,
Ruck
and
Marbel
and
all
,
and
give
'
em
ten
minutes
of
my
mind
,
George
.
Straight
from
the
shoulder
.
Jes
'
exactly
what
I
think
of
them
.
It
's
a
little
thing
,
but
I
'd
like
to
do
it
jes
'
once
before
I
die
.
"
...
He
rested
on
that
for
some
time
Zzzz-ing
.
Then
he
broke
out
at
a
new
place
in
a
tone
of
detached
criticism
.
"
There
's
Boom
,
"
he
reflected
.
"
It
's
a
wonderful
system
this
old
British
system
,
George
.
It
's
staid
and
stable
and
yet
it
has
a
place
for
new
men
.
We
come
up
and
take
our
places
.
It
's
almost
expected
.
We
take
a
hand
.
That
's
where
our
Democracy
differs
from
America
.
Over
there
a
man
succeeds
;
all
he
gets
is
money
.
Here
there
's
a
system
open
to
every
one-practically
...
.
Chaps
like
Boom-come
from
nowhere
.
"
His
voice
ceased
.
I
reflected
upon
the
spirit
of
his
words
.
Suddenly
I
kicked
my
feet
in
the
air
,
rolled
on
my
side
and
sat
up
suddenly
on
my
deck
chair
with
my
legs
down
.
"
You
do
n't
mean
it
!
"
I
said
.
"
Mean
what
,
George
?
"
"
Subscription
to
the
party
funds
.
Reciprocal
advantage
.
Have
we
got
to
that
?
"
"
Whad
you
driving
at
,
George
?
"
"
You
know
.
They
'd
never
do
it
,
man
!
"
"
Do
what
?
"
he
said
feebly
;
and
,
"
Why
should
n't
they
?
"
"
They
'd
not
even
go
to
a
baronetcy
.
NO
!
...
.
And
yet
,
of
course
,
there
's
Boom
!
And
Collingshead
and
Gorver
.
They
've
done
beer
,
they
've
done
snippets
!
After
all
Tono-Bungay-it
's
not
like
a
turf
commission
agent
or
anything
like
that
!
...
There
have
of
course
been
some
very
gentlemanly
commission
agents
.
It
is
n't
like
a
fool
of
a
scientific
man
who
ca
n't
make
money
!
"
My
uncle
grunted
;
we
'd
differed
on
that
issue
before
.
A
malignant
humour
took
possession
of
me
.
"
What
would
they
call
you
?
"
I
speculated
.
"
The
vicar
would
like
Duffield
.
Too
much
like
Duffer
!
Difficult
thing
,
a
title
.
"
I
ran
my
mind
over
various
possibilities
.
"
Why
not
take
a
leaf
from
a
socialist
tract
I
came
upon
yesterday
.
Chap
says
we
're
all
getting
delocalised
.
Beautiful
word-delocalised
!
Why
not
be
the
first
delocalised
peer
?
That
gives
you-Tono-Bungay
!
There
is
a
Bungay
,
you
know
.
Lord
Tono
of
Bungay-in
bottles
everywhere
.
Eh
?
"
My
uncle
astonished
me
by
losing
his
temper
.
"
Damn
it
.
George
,
you
do
n't
seem
to
see
I
'm
serious
!
You
're
always
sneering
at
Tono-Bungay
!
As
though
it
was
some
sort
of
swindle
.
It
was
perfec'ly
legitimate
trade
,
perfec'ly
legitimate
.
Good
value
and
a
good
article
...
.
When
I
come
up
here
and
tell
you
plans
and
exchange
idees-you
sneer
at
me
.
You
do
.
You
do
n't
see-it
's
a
big
thing
.
It
's
a
big
thing
.
You
got
to
get
used
to
new
circumstances
.
You
got
to
face
what
lies
before
us
.
You
got
to
drop
that
tone
.
"
My
uncle
was
not
altogether
swallowed
up
in
business
and
ambition
.
He
kept
in
touch
with
modern
thought
.
For
example
,
he
was
,
I
know
,
greatly
swayed
by
what
he
called
"
This
Overman
idee
,
Nietzsche-all
that
stuff
.
"
He
mingled
those
comforting
suggestions
of
a
potent
and
exceptional
human
being
emancipated
from
the
pettier
limitations
of
integrity
with
the
Napoleonic
legend
.
It
gave
his
imagination
a
considerable
outlet
.
That
Napoleonic
legend
!
The
real
mischief
of
Napoleon
's
immensely
disastrous
and
accidental
career
began
only
when
he
was
dead
and
the
romantic
type
of
mind
was
free
to
elaborate
his
character
.
I
do
believe
that
my
uncle
would
have
made
a
far
less
egregious
smash
if
there
had
been
no
Napoleonic
legend
to
misguide
him
.
He
was
in
many
ways
better
and
infinitely
kinder
than
his
career
.
But
when
in
doubt
between
decent
conduct
and
a
base
advantage
,
that
cult
came
in
more
and
more
influentially
:
"
think
of
Napoleon
;
think
what
the
inflexibly-wilful
Napoleon
would
have
done
with
such
scruples
as
yours
;
"
that
was
the
rule
,
and
the
end
was
invariably
a
new
step
in
dishonour
.
My
uncle
was
in
an
unsystematic
way
a
collector
of
Napoleonic
relics
;
the
bigger
the
book
about
his
hero
the
more
readily
he
bought
it
;
he
purchased
letters
and
tinsel
and
weapons
that
bore
however
remotely
upon
the
Man
of
Destiny
,
and
he
even
secured
in
Geneva
,
though
he
never
brought
home
,
an
old
coach
in
which
Buonaparte
might
have
ridden
;
he
crowded
the
quiet
walls
of
Lady
Grove
with
engravings
and
figures
of
him
,
preferring
,
my
aunt
remarked
,
the
more
convex
portraits
with
the
white
vest
and
those
statuettes
with
the
hands
behind
the
back
which
threw
forward
the
figure
.
The
Durgans
watched
him
through
it
all
,
sardonically
.
And
he
would
stand
after
breakfast
at
times
in
the
light
of
the
window
at
Lady
Grove
,
a
little
apart
,
with
two
fingers
of
one
hand
stuck
between
his
waistcoat-buttons
and
his
chin
sunken
,
thinking
,
-the
most
preposterous
little
fat
man
in
the
world
.
It
made
my
aunt
feel
,
she
said
,
"
like
an
old
Field
Marshal-knocks
me
into
a
cocked
hat
,
George
!
"
Perhaps
this
Napoleonic
bias
made
him
a
little
less
frequent
with
his
cigars
than
he
would
otherwise
have
been
,
but
of
that
I
cannot
be
sure
,
and
it
certainly
caused
my
aunt
a
considerable
amount
of
vexation
after
he
had
read
Napoleon
and
the
Fair
Sex
,
because
for
a
time
that
roused
him
to
a
sense
of
a
side
of
life
he
had
in
his
commercial
preoccupations
very
largely
forgotten
.
Suggestion
plays
so
great
a
part
in
this
field
.
My
uncle
took
the
next
opportunity
and
had
an
"
affair
"
!
It
was
not
a
very
impassioned
affair
,
and
the
exact
particulars
never
of
course
reached
me
.
It
is
quite
by
chance
I
know
anything
of
it
at
all
.
One
evening
I
was
surprised
to
come
upon
my
uncle
in
a
mixture
of
Bohemia
and
smart
people
at
an
At
Home
in
the
flat
of
Robbert
,
the
R.A.
who
painted
my
aunt
,
and
he
was
standing
a
little
apart
in
a
recess
,
talking
or
rather
being
talked
to
in
undertones
by
a
plump
,
blond
little
woman
in
pale
blue
,
a
Helen
Scrymgeour
who
wrote
novels
and
was
organising
a
weekly
magazine
.
I
elbowed
a
large
lady
who
was
saying
something
about
them
,
but
I
did
n't
need
to
hear
the
thing
she
said
to
perceive
the
relationship
of
the
two
.
It
hit
me
like
a
placard
on
a
hoarding
.
I
was
amazed
the
whole
gathering
did
not
see
it
.
Perhaps
they
did
.
She
was
wearing
a
remarkably
fine
diamond
necklace
,
much
too
fine
for
journalism
,
and
regarding
him
with
that
quality
of
questionable
proprietorship
,
of
leashed
but
straining
intimacy
,
that
seems
inseparable
from
this
sort
of
affair
.
It
is
so
much
more
palpable
than
matrimony
.
If
anything
was
wanted
to
complete
my
conviction
it
was
my
uncles
's
eyes
when
presently
he
became
aware
of
mine
,
a
certain
embarrassment
and
a
certain
pride
and
defiance
.
And
the
next
day
he
made
an
opportunity
to
praise
the
lady
's
intelligence
to
me
concisely
,
lest
I
should
miss
the
point
of
it
all
.
After
that
I
heard
some
gossip-from
a
friend
of
the
lady
's
.
I
was
much
too
curious
to
do
anything
but
listen
.
I
had
never
in
all
my
life
imagined
my
uncle
in
an
amorous
attitude
.
It
would
appear
that
she
called
him
her
"
God
in
the
Car
"
-after
the
hero
in
a
novel
of
Anthony
Hope
's
.
It
was
essential
to
the
convention
of
their
relations
that
he
should
go
relentlessly
whenever
business
called
,
and
it
was
generally
arranged
that
it
did
call
.
To
him
women
were
an
incident
,
it
was
understood
between
them
;
Ambition
was
the
master-passion
.
A
great
world
called
him
and
the
noble
hunger
for
Power
.
I
have
never
been
able
to
discover
just
how
honest
Mrs.
Scrymgeour
was
in
all
this
,
but
it
is
quite
possible
the
immense
glamour
of
his
financial
largeness
prevailed
with
her
and
that
she
did
bring
a
really
romantic
feeling
to
their
encounters
.
There
must
have
been
some
extraordinary
moments
...
.
I
was
a
good
deal
exercised
and
distressed
about
my
aunt
when
I
realised
what
was
afoot
.
I
thought
it
would
prove
a
terrible
humiliation
to
her
.
I
suspected
her
of
keeping
up
a
brave
front
with
the
loss
of
my
uncle
's
affections
fretting
at
her
heart
,
but
there
I
simply
underestimated
her
.
She
did
n't
hear
for
some
time
and
when
she
did
hear
she
was
extremely
angry
and
energetic
.
The
sentimental
situation
did
n't
trouble
her
for
a
moment
.
She
decided
that
my
uncle
"
wanted
smacking
.
"
She
accentuated
herself
with
an
unexpected
new
hat
,
went
and
gave
him
an
inconceivable
talking-to
at
the
Hardingham
,
and
then
came
round
to
"
blow-up
"
me
for
not
telling
her
what
was
going
on
before
...
.
I
tried
to
bring
her
to
a
proper
sense
of
the
accepted
values
in
this
affair
,
but
my
aunt
's
originality
of
outlook
was
never
so
invincible
.
"
Men
do
n't
tell
on
one
another
in
affairs
of
passion
,
"
I
protested
,
and
such-like
worldly
excuses
.
"
Women
!
"
she
said
in
high
indignation
,
"
and
men
!
It
is
n't
women
and
men-it
's
him
and
me
,
George
!
Why
do
n't
you
talk
sense
?
"
Old
passion
's
all
very
well
,
George
,
in
its
way
,
and
I
'm
the
last
person
to
be
jealous
.
But
this
is
old
nonsense
...
.
I
'm
not
going
to
let
him
show
off
what
a
silly
old
lobster
he
is
to
other
women
...
.
I
'll
mark
every
scrap
of
his
underclothes
with
red
letters
,
'
Ponderevo-Private'-every
scrap
.
"
Going
about
making
love
indeed
,
-in
abdominal
belts
!
-at
his
time
of
life
!
"
I
cannot
imagine
what
passed
between
her
and
my
uncle
.
But
I
have
no
doubt
that
for
once
her
customary
badinage
was
laid
aside
.
How
they
talked
then
I
do
not
know
,
for
I
who
knew
them
so
well
had
never
heard
that
much
of
intimacy
between
them
.
At
any
rate
it
was
a
concerned
and
preoccupied
"
God
in
the
Car
"
I
had
to
deal
with
in
the
next
few
days
,
unusually
Zzzz-y
and
given
to
slight
impatient
gestures
that
had
nothing
to
do
with
the
current
conversation
.
And
it
was
evident
that
in
all
directions
he
was
finding
things
unusually
difficult
to
explain
.
All
the
intimate
moments
in
this
affair
were
hidden
from
me
,
but
in
the
end
my
aunt
triumphed
.
He
did
not
so
much
throw
as
jerk
over
Mrs.
Scrymgeour
,
and
she
did
not
so
much
make
a
novel
of
it
as
upset
a
huge
pailful
of
attenuated
and
adulterated
female
soul
upon
this
occasion
.
My
aunt
did
not
appear
in
that
,
even
remotely
.
So
that
it
is
doubtful
if
the
lady
knew
the
real
causes
of
her
abandonment
.
The
Napoleonic
hero
was
practically
unmarried
,
and
he
threw
over
his
lady
as
Napoleon
threw
over
Josephine
for
a
great
alliance
.
It
was
a
triumph
for
my
aunt
,
but
it
had
its
price
.
For
some
time
it
was
evident
things
were
strained
between
them
.
He
gave
up
the
lady
,
but
he
resented
having
to
do
so
,
deeply
.
She
had
meant
more
to
his
imagination
than
one
could
have
supposed
.
He
would
n't
for
a
long
time
"
come
round
.
"
He
became
touchy
and
impatient
and
secretive
towards
my
aunt
,
and
she
,
I
noted
,
after
an
amazing
check
or
so
,
stopped
that
stream
of
kindly
abuse
that
had
flowed
for
so
long
and
had
been
so
great
a
refreshment
in
their
lives
.
They
were
both
the
poorer
for
its
cessation
,
both
less
happy
.
She
devoted
herself
more
and
more
to
Lady
Grove
and
the
humours
and
complications
of
its
management
.
The
servants
took
to
her-as
they
say-she
god-mothered
three
Susans
during
her
rule
,
the
coachman
's
,
the
gardener
's
,
and
the
Up
Hill
gamekeeper
's
.
She
got
together
a
library
of
old
household
books
that
were
in
the
vein
of
the
place
.
She
revived
the
still-room
,
and
became
a
great
artist
in
jellies
and
elder
and
cowslip
wine
.
And
while
I
neglected
the
development
of
my
uncle
's
finances-and
my
own
,
in
my
scientific
work
and
my
absorbing
conflict
with
the
difficulties
of
flying
,
-his
schemes
grew
more
and
more
expansive
and
hazardous
,
and
his
spending
wilder
and
laxer
.
I
believe
that
a
haunting
sense
of
the
intensifying
unsoundness
of
his
position
accounts
largely
for
his
increasing
irritability
and
his
increasing
secretiveness
with
my
aunt
and
myself
during
these
crowning
years
.
He
dreaded
,
I
think
,
having
to
explain
,
he
feared
our
jests
might
pierce
unwittingly
to
the
truth
.
Even
in
the
privacy
of
his
mind
he
would
not
face
the
truth
.
He
was
accumulating
unrealisable
securities
in
his
safes
until
they
hung
a
potential
avalanche
over
the
economic
world
.
But
his
buying
became
a
fever
,
and
his
restless
desire
to
keep
it
up
with
himself
that
he
was
making
a
triumphant
progress
to
limitless
wealth
gnawed
deeper
and
deeper
.
A
curious
feature
of
this
time
with
him
was
his
buying
over
and
over
again
of
similar
things
.
His
ideas
seemed
to
run
in
series
.
Within
a
twelve-month
he
bought
five
new
motor-cars
,
each
more
swift
and
powerful
than
its
predecessor
,
and
only
the
repeated
prompt
resignation
of
his
chief
chauffeur
at
each
moment
of
danger
,
prevented
his
driving
them
himself
.
He
used
them
more
and
more
.
He
developed
a
passion
for
locomotion
for
its
own
sake
.
Then
he
began
to
chafe
at
Lady
Grove
,
fretted
by
a
chance
jest
he
had
overheard
at
a
dinner
.
"
This
house
,
George
,
"
he
said
.
"
It
's
a
misfit
.
There
's
no
elbow-room
in
it
;
it
's
choked
with
old
memories
.
And
I
ca
n't
stand
all
these
damned
Durgans
!
"
That
chap
in
the
corner
,
George
.
No
!
the
other
corner
!
The
man
in
a
cherry-coloured
coat
.
He
watched
you
!
He
'd
look
silly
if
I
stuck
a
poker
through
his
Gizzard
!
"
"
He
'd
look
,
"
I
reflected
,
"
much
as
he
does
now
.
As
though
he
was
amused
.
"
He
replaced
his
glasses
,
which
had
fallen
at
his
emotion
,
and
glared
at
his
antagonists
.
"
What
are
they
?
What
are
they
all
,
the
lot
of
'
em
?
Dead
as
Mutton
!
They
just
stuck
in
the
mud
.
They
did
n't
even
rise
to
the
Reformation
.
The
old
out-of-date
Reformation
!
Move
with
the
times
!
-they
moved
against
the
times
.
"
Just
a
Family
of
Failure
,
-they
never
even
tried
!
"
They
're
jes
'
,
George
,
exactly
what
I
'm
not
.
Exactly
.
It
is
n't
suitable
...
.
All
this
living
in
the
Past
.
"
And
I
want
a
bigger
place
too
,
George
.
I
want
air
and
sunlight
and
room
to
move
about
and
more
service
.
A
house
where
you
can
get
a
Move
on
things
!
Zzzz
.
Why
!
it
's
like
a
discord-it
jars-even
to
have
the
telephone
...
.
There
's
nothing
,
nothing
except
the
terrace
,
that
's
worth
a
Rap
.
It
's
all
dark
and
old
and
dried
up
and
full
of
old-fashioned
things-musty
old
idees-fitter
for
a
silver-fish
than
a
modern
man
...
.
I
do
n't
know
how
I
got
here
.
"
He
broke
out
into
a
new
grievance
.
"
That
damned
vicar
,
"
he
complained
,
"
thinks
I
ought
to
think
myself
lucky
to
get
this
place
!
Every
time
I
meet
him
I
can
see
him
think
it
...
.
One
of
these
days
,
George
I
'll
show
him
what
a
Mod'un
house
is
like
!
"
And
he
did
.
I
remember
the
day
when
he
declared
,
as
Americans
say
,
for
Crest
Hill
.
He
had
come
up
to
see
my
new
gas
plant
,
for
I
was
then
only
just
beginning
to
experiment
with
auxiliary
collapsible
balloons
,
and
all
the
time
the
shine
of
his
glasses
was
wandering
away
to
the
open
down
beyond
.
"
Let
's
go
back
to
Lady
Grove
over
the
hill
,
"
he
said
.
"
Something
I
want
to
show
you
.
Something
fine
!
"
It
was
an
empty
sunlit
place
that
summer
evening
,
sky
and
earth
warm
with
sundown
,
and
a
pe-wit
or
so
just
accentuating
the
pleasant
stillness
that
ends
a
long
clear
day
.
A
beautiful
peace
,
it
was
,
to
wreck
for
ever
.
And
there
was
my
uncle
,
the
modern
man
of
power
,
in
his
grey
top-hat
and
his
grey
suit
and
his
black-ribboned
glasses
,
short
,
thin-legged
,
large-stomached
,
pointing
and
gesticulating
,
threatening
this
calm
.
He
began
with
a
wave
of
his
arm
.
"
That
's
the
place
,
George
,
"
he
said
.
"
See
?
"
"
Eh
!
"
I
cried-for
I
had
been
thinking
of
remote
things
.
"
I
got
it
.
"
"
Got
what
?
"
"
For
a
house
!
-a
Twentieth
Century
house
!
That
's
the
place
for
it
!
"
One
of
his
characteristic
phrases
was
begotten
in
him
.
"
Four-square
to
the
winds
of
heaven
,
George
!
"
he
said
.
"
Eh
?
Four-square
to
the
winds
of
heaven
!
"
"
You
'll
get
the
winds
up
here
,
"
I
said
.
"
A
mammoth
house
it
ought
to
be
,
George-to
suit
these
hills
.
"
"
Quite
,
"
I
said
.
"
Great
galleries
and
things-running
out
there
and
there-See
?
I
been
thinking
of
it
,
George
!
Looking
out
all
this
way-across
the
Weald
.
With
its
back
to
Lady
Grove
.
"
"
And
the
morning
sun
in
its
eye
.
"
"
Like
an
eagle
,
George
,
-like
an
eagle
!
"
So
he
broached
to
me
what
speedily
became
the
leading
occupation
of
his
culminating
years
,
Crest
Hill
.
But
all
the
world
has
heard
of
that
extravagant
place
which
grew
and
changed
its
plans
as
it
grew
,
and
bubbled
like
a
salted
snail
,
and
burgeoned
and
bulged
and
evermore
grew
.
I
know
not
what
delirium
of
pinnacles
and
terraces
and
arcades
and
corridors
glittered
at
last
upon
the
uplands
of
his
mind
;
the
place
,
for
all
that
its
expansion
was
terminated
abruptly
by
our
collapse
,
is
wonderful
enough
as
it
stands
,
-that
empty
instinctive
building
of
a
childless
man
.
His
chief
architect
was
a
young
man
named
Westminster
,
whose
work
he
had
picked
out
in
the
architecture
room
of
the
Royal
Academy
on
account
of
a
certain
grandiose
courage
in
it
,
but
with
him
he
associated
from
time
to
time
a
number
of
fellow
professionals
,
stonemasons
,
sanitary
engineers
,
painters
,
sculptors
,
scribes
,
metal
workers
,
wood
carvers
,
furniture
designers
,
ceramic
specialists
,
landscape
gardeners
,
and
the
man
who
designs
the
arrangement
and
ventilation
of
the
various
new
houses
in
the
London
Zoological
Gardens
.
In
addition
he
had
his
own
ideas
.
The
thing
occupied
his
mind
at
all
times
,
but
it
held
it
completely
from
Friday
night
to
Monday
morning
.
He
would
come
down
to
Lady
Grove
on
Friday
night
in
a
crowded
motor-car
that
almost
dripped
architects
.
He
did
n't
,
however
,
confine
himself
to
architects
;
every
one
was
liable
to
an
invitation
to
week-end
and
view
Crest
Hill
,
and
many
an
eager
promoter
,
unaware
of
how
Napoleonically
and
completely
my
uncle
had
departmentalised
his
mind
,
tried
to
creep
up
to
him
by
way
of
tiles
and
ventilators
and
new
electric
fittings
.
Always
on
Sunday
mornings
,
unless
the
weather
was
vile
,
he
would
,
so
soon
as
breakfast
and
his
secretaries
were
disposed
of
,
visit
the
site
with
a
considerable
retinue
,
and
alter
and
develop
plans
,
making
modifications
,
Zzzz-ing
,
giving
immense
new
orders
verbally-an
unsatisfactory
way
,
as
Westminster
and
the
contractors
ultimately
found
.
There
he
stands
in
my
memory
,
the
symbol
of
this
age
for
me
,
the
man
of
luck
and
advertisement
,
the
current
master
of
the
world
.
There
he
stands
upon
the
great
outward
sweep
of
the
terrace
before
the
huge
main
entrance
,
a
little
figure
,
ridiculously
disproportionate
to
that
forty-foot
arch
,
with
the
granite
ball
behind
him-the
astronomical
ball
,
brass
coopered
,
that
represented
the
world
,
with
a
little
adjustable
tube
of
lenses
on
a
gun-metal
arm
that
focussed
the
sun
upon
just
that
point
of
the
earth
on
which
it
chanced
to
be
shining
vertically
.
There
he
stands
,
Napoleonically
grouped
with
his
retinue
men
in
tweeds
and
golfing-suits
,
a
little
solicitor
,
whose
name
I
forget
,
in
grey
trousers
and
a
black
jacket
,
and
Westminster
in
Jaeger
underclothing
,
a
floriferous
tie
,
and
peculiar
brown
cloth
of
his
own
.
The
downland
breeze
flutters
my
uncle
's
coat-tails
,
disarranges
his
stiff
hair
,
and
insists
on
the
evidence
of
undisciplined
appetites
in
face
and
form
,
as
he
points
out
this
or
that
feature
in
the
prospect
to
his
attentive
collaborator
.
Below
are
hundreds
of
feet
of
wheeling-planks
,
ditches
,
excavations
,
heaps
of
earth
,
piles
of
garden
stone
from
the
Wealden
ridges
.
On
either
hand
the
walls
of
his
irrelevant
unmeaning
palace
rise
at
one
time
he
had
working
in
that
place-disturbing
the
economic
balance
of
the
whole
countryside
by
their
presence-upwards
of
three
thousand
men
...
.
So
he
poses
for
my
picture
amidst
the
raw
beginnings
that
were
never
to
be
completed
.
He
did
the
strangest
things
about
that
place
,
things
more
and
more
detached
from
any
conception
of
financial
scale
,
things
more
and
more
