"I believe I love the grass," he said, "as much, Ian, as your
Chaucer loved the daisy!"
"Hardly so much, I should think!" returned Ian.
"Why do you think so?"
"I doubt if grass can be loved so much as a flower."
"Why not?"
"Because the one is a mass, the other an individual."
"I understand."
"I have a fear, Alister, that you are in danger of avarice," said
Ian, after a pause.
"Avarice, Ian! What can you mean?"
"You are as free, Alister, from the love of money, as any man I ever knew, but that is not enough. Did you ever think of the origin of the word AVARICE?"