Second String. Anthony Hope

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СКАЧАТЬ had much better have kept to their politics," Mrs. Belfield interposed with suave placidity. "They understand them. When they begin to talk about women—"

      "Need of Lethe—whisky and Lethe-water!" chuckled Harry. "In a large glass, eh, Andy?"

      Wellgood turned suddenly on Andy. "You've lived in Canada. What do you say?"

      Andy had been far too much occupied in listening. Besides, he was no politician. He thought deeply for a moment.

      "A lot depends on whether you want to buy or to sell." He delivered himself of this truth quite solemnly.

      "A very far-reaching observation," said Mr. Belfield. "Goes to the root of human traffic, and, quite possibly, to that of both the institutions which we have been discussing. I wonder whether either will be permanent!"

      "Look here, pater, we're at dessert! Aren't you starting rather big subjects?"

      "Your father likes to amuse himself with curious ideas," Mrs. Belfield remarked. "So did my father; he once asked me what I thought would happen if I didn't say my prayers. Men like to ask questions like that, but I never pay much attention to them. Shall we go into the drawing-room, Vivien? It may be warm enough for a turn in the garden, perhaps." She addressed the men. "Bring your cigars and try."

      The men were left alone. "The garden would be jolly," said Harry.

      Mr. Belfield coughed, and suddenly wheezed. "Intimations of mortality!" he said apologetically. "We've talked of a variety of subjects—to little purpose, I suppose. But it's entertaining to survey the field of humanity. Your views were briefly expressed, Hayes."

      "Everybody else was talking such a lot, sir," said Andy.

      Belfield's humorous laugh was entangled in a cough. "You'll never get that obstacle out of the way of your oratory," he managed to stutter out. "They always are! Talk rules the world—eh, Wellgood?" He was maliciously provocative.

      "We wait till they've finished talking. Then we do what we want," said Wellgood. "Force rules in the end—the readiness to kill and be killed. That's the ultima ratio, the final argument."

      "The women say that's out of date."

      "The women!" exclaimed Wellgood contemptuously.

      "They'll be in the garden," Harry opined. "Shall we move, pater?"

      "We might as well," said Belfield. "Are you ready, Wellgood?"

      Wellgood was ready—in spite of his contempt.

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