"
"Why not? These are obvious truths. Of course I could speak just as
strongly on the Conservative side with regard to many things. I
can't say that I have much faith in the capacity or honesty of the
mass of Radical voters. If I found myself at one of the clubs of
which Glazzard speaks, I should very likely get hooted down as an
insolent aristocrat. I don't go in for crazy extremes. There'll
never be a Utopia, and it's only a form of lying to set such ideals
before the multitude. I believe in the distinction of classes; the
only class I would altogether abolish is that of the hungry and the
ragged. So long as nature doles out the gift of brains in different
proportions, there must exist social subordination. The true Radical
is the man who wishes so to order things that no one will be urged
by misery to try and get out of the class he is born in."
Glazzard agreed that this was a good way of putting it, and
thereupon broached a subject so totally different that politics were
finally laid aside.
When Lilian rose and withdrew, the friends remained for several
minutes in silence. They lighted cigarettes, and contemplatively
watched the smoke. Of a sudden, Quarrier bent forward upon the
table.
"You shall have the explanation of this some day," he said, in a low
friendly voice, his eyes lighting with a gleam of heartfelt
confidence.
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