'There are City-articles against the mine this morning—or I should have been on my way to Whinfold at this moment. The shares are lower.'
'The merry boys are at work to bring your balloon to the ground, that you may quit it for them to ascend. Tiddler has enemies, like the best of mines: or they may be named lovers, if you like. And mines that have gone up, go down for a while before they rise again; it's an affair of undulations; rocket mines are not so healthy. The stories are false, for the time. I had the latest from Dartrey Fenellan yesterday. He's here next month; some time in August.'
'He is married, is he not?'
'Was.'
Victor's brevity sounded oddly to Lady Grace.
'Is he not a soldier?' she said.
'Soldiers and parsons!' Victor interjected.
Now she saw. She understood the portent of Mr. Barmby's hovering offer of the choice of songs, and the recent tremulousness of the welling Bethesda.
But she had come about her own business; and after remarking, that when there is a prize there must be competition, or England will have to lower her flag, she declared her resolve to stick to Tiddler, exclaiming: 'It's only in mines that twenty times the stake is not a dream of the past!'
'The Riviera green field on the rock is always open to you,' said Victor.