"I am talking to
Barbara. I have already ascertained your--your lack of views on the
subject. I was saying, Barbara, that mere originality is not a merit."
"No, you never said that," remarked Lady Ashbridge.
"I should have if you had allowed me to. And as for your saying that he
has done it, Barbara, that is very wide of the mark, and I intend shall
continue to be so."
"Dear great Bashaw, that is just what you said to me when I told you
I was going to marry his Excellency. But I did. And I think it is a
glorious move on Michael's part. It requires brain to find out what you
like, and character to go and do it. Combers haven't got brains as
a rule, you see. If they ever had any, they have degenerated into
conservative instincts."
He again refreshed himself with the landscape. The roofs of Ashbridge
were visible in the clear sunset. . . . Ashbridge paid its rents with
remarkable regularity.
"That may or may not be so," he said, forgetting for a moment the danger
of being dignified. "But Combers have position."
Barbara controlled herself admirably. A slight tremor shook her, which
he did not notice.
"Yes, dear," she said. "I allow that Combers have had for many
generations a sort of acquisitive cunning, for all we possess has
come to us by exceedingly prudent marriages.
Pages:
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67