“We don’t call them the people,” observed Hyacinth, reflecting the next instant that his remark was a little primitive.
“I suppose you call them the wretches, the villains!” Rose Muniment suggested, laughing merrily.
“All the things, but not all the brains,” her brother said.
“No, indeed, aren’t they stupid?” exclaimed her ladyship. “All the same, I don’t think they would go abroad.”
“Go abroad?”
“I mean like the French nobles, who emigrated so much. They would stay at home and resist; they would make more of a fight. I think they would fight very hard.”
“I’m delighted to hear it, and I’m sure they would win!” cried Rosy.
“They wouldn’t collapse, don’t you know,” Lady Aurora continued. “They would struggle till they were beaten.”
“And you think they would be beaten in the end?” Hyacinth asked.
“Oh dear, yes,” she replied, with a familiar brevity at which he was greatly surprised. “But of course one hopes it won’t happen.”