"Indeed, no?—Go on!"
"I think aristocrats are things apart from the opportunities they have had, and should know it, and keep up the prestige and make their order a great goal to strive for. You see, if they were stamped out, it would be like cutting down all the old trees in Kensington Gardens; they could not be produced again for hundreds of years, and all the beauty and dignity of the gardens would be gone. But aristocrats ought to act as such, and never slip into the gutter."
"There you are certainly right. I am more than with you—But what can one do?"
"You should have the courage of your opinions, as Her Ladyship has—you only laugh when she is saying splendid things sometimes. So few of you seem to have any backbone that I have seen."
"You shame me!"
Her face became filled with a humorous expression—they had been serious long enough, she thought. His caught the light of her eyes; he was intensely fascinated.
"You did not, of course, come from—Bindon's Green—is it?—You came down from Parnassus to teach us poor devils of aristocrats to stick to our guns—I will be your first disciple, priestess of wisdom!"
"It is five minutes to four, sir—it will be quite impossible to finish that pile of papers to-day—And I did come from Bindon's Green—and I am going back there by the six o'clock train from Victoria, to a supper party at my home—That is why my hair is crimped and I have on this new blouse."
He got up and stood quite near her.
"And what will you do at the party? I can't see you there."