“I cannot see why the licenses are renewed.”
“Can you not? Every English government lives by this traffic; do you expect pious sons to commit parricide?”
“You feel very strongly about it,” said Dolly, wondering.
“I see the results of the present system.”
“Then do you believe in Prohibition or in Local Option?”
“I? I believe in putting the whole trade under public control, in reducing the number of licenses, and in giving the publicans a fixed salary independent of the number of men they turn into drunkards.”
“But those are not Miss Laurenson’s views, surely?” asked Dolly, somewhat taken aback. Lal was already repenting of his candour.
“It’s one of the questions of principle on which we differ,” he said, in his soft, lazy voice. “Don’t betray me, Miss Fane; it will be time for me to reveal my heresies when Prohibition comes down out of the clouds. Angela herself is not where her theories are; she does plenty of practical hard work.”
“Mr. Laurenson, what practical hard work do you do?”
“I?”