The imperial idea goes
so quickly from the heart to the head. He felt compelled,
nevertheless, to mitigate his denial to the bus drivers.
"I expect it's the next best thing." he would say, "but
it's only the next best."
It was as if he felt charged to vindicate the race, the
whole of Anglo-Saxondom, there in his supreme moment,
his splendid position, on the top of an omnibus lumbering
west out of Trafalgar Square.
One introduction of his own he had. Mrs Milburn had got
it for him from the rector, Mr Emmett, to his wife's
brother, Mr Charles Chafe, who had interests in Chiswick
and a house in Warwick Gardens. Lorne put off presenting
the letter--did not know, indeed, quite how to present
it, till his stay in London was half over. Finally he
presented himself with it, as the quickest way, at the
office of Mr Chafe's works at Chiswick. He was cordially
received, both there and in Warwick Gardens, where he
met Mrs Chafe and the family, when he also met Mr Alfred
Hesketh. Lorne went several times to the house in Warwick
Gardens, and Hesketh--a nephew--was there on the very
first occasion. It was an encounter interesting on both
sides. He--Hesketh--was a young man with a good public
school and a university behind him, where his very moderate
degree, however, failed to represent the activity of his
mind or the capacity of his energy.
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