He walked up and down amid the nut trees for an hour. Then Humphrey returned.
Tea was served for them in the kitchen; Susan went out and the way opened for Ned.
"You might be surprised to see me," he began; "but though I know you don't like me—natural enough too—still, I'm your eldest nephew, and I felt at a time like this you'd not refuse to let me speak to you."
"Speak, and welcome."
"Of course, all our lives are turned upside down by this terrible business."
"Not all. In these cases 'tis the drones, not the workers, that are hit hardest. If you've got wit enough to understand what you see under your eyes, you'll find that your brother Rupert, for instance, can go on with his life much as before; and scores of others—-they've lost a bit of money—cheated out of it by my brother, the late Nathan Baskerville—but it don't wreck them. 'Tis only such as you—accustomed all your life to idle and grow fat on other men's earnings—'tis only such as you that are stranded by a thing like this. I suppose you want to get back into the hive—like t'other drones when the pinch of winter comes—and the world won't let you in?"
This uncompromising speech shook Ned and, under the circumstances, he felt that it was more than he could bear.
"If you knew what had happened to me to-day, you'd not speak so harsh, Uncle Humphrey," he answered. "I may tell you that I've been struck a very cruel blow in the quarter I least expected it. Cora Lintern's thrown me over."
"Cat-hearted little bitch," he said. "And you bleat about a 'cruel blow'! Why, you young fool, escape from her is the best piece of fortune that ever fell to your lot—or is ever likely to. And you ask me to be sorry for you! Fool's luck is always the best luck. You've had better fortune far than ever you deserved if she's quitted you."
"You can't look at it as I do; you can't see what my life must be without her."