“And how is she?”
“Not so well—at least, better. I mean she is not yet quite well, but is better than she was.”
What further embarrassing questions the lady might have put Prudence could only speculate, for, providentially, Mrs. Dumaresq was appealed to by the medical woman for her opinion on some hotly-contested question of Government policy. This was being discussed by Major Jones and Mr. Lorimer, who, it has been said, like most gentlemen that live in boarding-houses, were staunch Conservatives. A new boarder had just given utterance to deplorably Radical sentiments.
Mrs. Dumaresq had not heard, and politely requested information as to the point at issue.
“My husband,” said the wife of the new boarder, “remarked that, in proportion to their means, the poor are taxed far more heavily than the rich, and he advocates reversing this. What do you think?”
“Really,” said Mrs. Dumaresq with lofty sweetness, “I have no opinion on the subject. I know absolutely nothing of politics.”
“Oh! Then you are a Conservative,” said the new boarder’s wife abruptly. “I have always noticed that when a woman begins by telling me she knows nothing of politics, it means that she is a Tory.”
Mrs. Dumaresq looked offended. “Well,” she said, after a brief pause, “my sympathies are naturally with the aristocracy, amongst whom my life has been passed. In military and diplomatic circles everyone is Conservative, so if I have any bias, it is in favour of my friends.”
The wife of the new boarder happened, unfortunately, to be an earnest woman, so she did not let the matter drop.
“But why,” she pursued, “should you, a member of the great English middle-class, set yourself to uphold a system inimical to the interests not only of the poor but of your equals.”