He paused, as if for cheers, and Sir Horace was vaguely irritated into saying: “But look here, my castle——�
“Damn it all!� said the Prime Minister, with his first flash of impatience and sincerity. “Can’t you see you’ll get twice as much as before? First you’ll be compensated for losing your castle, and then you’ll be paid for keeping it.�
“My lord,� said Lord Normantowers humbly, “I apologize for anything I may have said or suggested. I ought to have known I stood in the presence of a great English statesman.�
“Oh, it’s easy enough,� said Lord Eden frankly. “Look how easily we remained in the saddle, in spite of democratic elections; how we managed to dominate the Commons as well as the Lords. It’ll be the same with what they call Socialism. We shall still be there; only we shall be called bureaucrats instead of aristocrats.�
“I see it all now!� cried Hunter, “and by Heaven, it’ll be the end of all this confounded demagogy of Three Acres and a Cow.�
“I think so,� said the Prime Minister with a smile; and began to fold up the large maps.
As he was folding up the last and largest, he suddenly stopped and said:
“Hallo!�
A letter was lying in the middle of the table; a letter in a sealed envelope, and one which he evidently did not recognize as any part of his paper paraphernalia.
“Where did this letter come from?� he asked rather sharply. “Did you put it here, Eustace?�