His hostess showed more comprehension than he had looked for.
“Yes; I set you down as one of the men who prefer heat and cold, want of food, and toil, to the comforts they could have at home. I have met a few, sons of my old friends, and heard of others. After all, we have a good many of them in England.”
“Troublesome people, aren’t they? What do you do with them?”
“Let them go. How do we rule India and hold so much of Africa? How did we open up Canada for you?”
He nodded.
“That’s right. It doesn’t matter that in respect to Canada the sons of Highland peasants did their share; the Hudson Bay people and the Laurentian Frenchmen showed us the way. We found out what kind of men they were when we went in after them.”
There was silence for a few moments and he glanced at her with admiration. The honorable pride of caste she had shown strongly appealed to him. She stood for all that was fine in the old regime, and once more he wondered how such a woman could have borne such a son.
“I’m returning because business calls,” he explained. “My means won’t keep me in idleness, and that fact has a bearing on the question as to whether I’ll ever come back again. It’s a very momentous one to me.”
She waited, noticing with some surprise the sudden tenseness of his expression, until he spoke again, hesitatingly.
“You are the only person I can come to for advice. I’d be grateful for your opinion.”