Hogarth stood briskly up.
“What I say, I can see, is not new to you?” said he.
“No, not new”, Loveday confessed: “I believe that it is quite an ancient theory; there are even savage tribes whose land-tenure is not unlike what you advocate—the Basutos, for example”.
“And are these Basutos richer, happier, prettier fellows than average Englishmen?”
“Oh, beyond doubt. Don't suppose that I am gainsaying you: I am only showing you that the theory is not new—”
“But why do you persist in calling it a theory? Is the fact that one and one make two a theory?”—Hogarth's brow growing every moment redder.
“What can one call it?”
“Call it what you like! But do you believe it?”
“It is quite possibly true; and now that you say it I believe it; but I have never seriously considered the matter.”
“Why not?”