"They're a fair size
for this country, ma'am, but if you want berries with a
flavour we'll do better for you in the Niagara district."
It must be added that Cruickshank lunched with Wallingham
at his club, and with Tricorne at his; and on both
occasions the quiet and attentive young secretary went
with him, for purposes of reference, his pocket bulging
with memoranda. The young secretary felt a little
embarrassed to justify his presence at Tricorne's lunch,
as the Right Honourable gentleman seemed to have forgotten
what his guests had come for beyond it, and talked
exclusively and exhaustively about the new possibilities
for fruit-farming in England. Cruickshank fairly shook
himself into his overcoat with irritation afterward.
"It's the sort of thing we must except," he said, as they
merged upon Pall Mall. It was not the sort of thing Lorne
expected; but we know him unsophisticated and a stranger
to the heart of the Empire, which beats through such
impediment of accumulated tissue. Nor was it the sort of
thing they got from Wallingham, the keen-eyed and probing,
whose skill in adjusting conflicting interests could
astonish even their expectation, and whose vision of the
essentials of the future could lift even their enthusiasm.
One would like to linger over their touch with Wallingham,
that fusion of energy with energy, that straight,
satisfying, accomplishing dart.
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