"Oh, he'll be back before long, and without his incumbrances. And Flora's delighted to get a winter abroad. It couldn't have happened more conveniently, she says."
"He told me to tell you that he thought your young friend—he meant Harry Tristram—was lost forever now."
"What a shame!" cried Mina indignantly.
"Just like Robert! He never could understand that a man has a history just as a country has. He is and ought to be part of his family."
"No sense of historical continuity," nodded Southend. "I agree, and that's just why, though I admire Disney enormously, I——"
"Generally vote against him on critical occasions? Yes, Robert makes so many admirers like that."
"Is his work at Blinkhampton nothing?" demanded Mina.
"He got in for that while he was dispossessed," smiled Southend. "I say, thank heaven he wouldn't have the viscounty!"
"That would have been deplorable," agreed Lady Evenswood.
"It's all a very curious little episode."