‘You will not be surprised to hear, Mrs. Effingham,’ he commenced, with an air of great deference, ‘that Mr. Kinghart shares his distinguished brother’s views as to our duties to the (temporarily) lower orders, and the compulsion under which the nobler minds of the century lie, to advance by personal sacrifice the social culture of their dependents, more particularly in the colonies, where (necessarily) the feelings are less sensitive. Mr. Kinghart, therefore, declines to partake of a meal in any house, unless the servants are invited to share the repast.’
‘What nonsense!’ said the gentleman referred to, rather hastily; ‘but I daresay you recognise our friend’s vein of humour, Mrs. Effingham.’
‘It’s all very well, Kinghart,’ replied Hamilton gravely; ‘but I feel pained to find a man of your intellect deserting his convictions when they clash with conventionalities. You know the Rector’s opinions as to our dependents, and here you stand, ashamed to act up to the family principles.’
‘My dear fellow, of course I support Charles’s gallant testimony to the creed of his Master, but he had no “colonial experience,” whereas I have had a great deal, which may have led me to believe that I am the deeper student of human nature. I don’t know whether I need assure Mrs. Effingham that she will find me outwardly much like other people.’
‘How few beliefs shall I retain henceforth,’ said Hamilton sorrowfully.
‘Putting socialism out of the question,’ said Mr. Kinghart, ‘I shall always regret that Charles did not avail himself of an opportunity he once had to visit Australia. He would have been charmed beyond description.’
‘I’m sure we should have been, only to see him,’ said Beatrice; ‘but I don’t know what we should have had to offer in exchange for what he would have to forgo.’
‘You are leaving out of the question the fact of my brother’s passionate love of geology, botany, and adventure. The facts in natural history to which even my small researches have led are so wonderful that I hesitate to assert them.’
‘How fascinating it must be,’ said Rosamond, ‘to be able to walk about the earth and read the book of Nature like a scroll. You and our dear old Harley seem alike in that respect. I look upon you as magicians. You have the “open sesame,” and may find the way to Ali Baba caverns full of jewels.’
‘This last is not so wildly improbable, though you over-rate my attainments,’ said their visitor, with a quiet smile. ‘I have certainly found in this neighbourhood indications of valuable minerals, not even excluding that Chief Deputy of the Prince of the Air—Gold.’