“‘Two thousand acres of land——’
“‘If you are going to tackle the agricultural problem——’
“‘One third of the available capital——’
“‘Don’t start on statistics; nothing more treacherous.’
“‘How many families did he say lived in one room?’
“‘Wasn’t listening.’
“‘That is just it. People like you never do listen. People like you content themselves with reading stupid, woolly, political speeches. For my part, I always skip such things, and am thankful when Parliament adjourns and they put something really interesting in the papers.’”
Gully stopped and knocked the ashes out of his pipe.
“From that day,” he said solemnly, when he had refilled and lighted up, “she has given me no peace. She’ll compromise herself seriously—that’s what I’m afraid of. She’s been making election rosettes. She actually met a fellow by appointment in Broad Street. One of these Social Democrats; she wants me to review his book, ‘The Fall of the Capitalist.’ I put my foot down when it came to appointments—the scoundrel!
“She’s always hurling Socialistic bricks at me. I’ve tried to convince her of her errors with a pencil and a bit of paper. I worked out a sum in proportion, with a landowner and a man with a patent who had a certain amount of capital to start with. She said she didn’t care a fig for my stupid landowner.