When
I once went to the length of adding that each Englishman should
be muscle fit and ready in case of England's sudden need, I saw
the lads grin cheerfully at the thought of England in any such
un-English plight. Their innocent swaggering belief that the
country is always ready for everything moved my heart of stone.
And it is men like myself who are to blame--not merely men of my
class, but men of my KIND. Those who have chosen to detach themselves
from everything but the living of life as it best pleased their
tastes or served their personal ambitions."
"Are we going to be taught that man cannot argue without including
his fellow man? Are we going to be forced to learn it?" she said.
"Yes--forced. Nothing but force could reach us. The race is
an undeveloped thing. A few centuries later it will have evolved
another sense. This century may see the first huge step--because
the power of a cataclysm sweeps it forward."
He turned his glance towards the opening door. Robin came in with
some letters in her hand. He was vaguely aware that she wore an
aspect he was unfamiliar with. The girl of Mrs. Gareth-Lawless had
in the past, as it went without saying, expressed the final note
of priceless simplicity and mode. The more finely simple she looked,
the more priceless. The unfamiliarity in her outward seeming lay
in the fact that her quiet dun tweed dress with its lines of white
at neck and wrists was not priceless though it was well made.
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