He
seems to have been a wonderful fellow, Macdonald, a man
with extraordinary power of imaginative enterprise. I
wonder whether he would have seen his way to linking up
the Empire as he linked up your Provinces here?"
"He'd have hated uncommonly to be in opposition, but I
don't see how he could have helped it," Lorne said. "He
was the godfather of Canadian manufacturers, you know--the
Tories have always been the industrial party. He couldn't
have gone for letting English stuff in free, or cheap;
and yet he was genuinely loyal and attached to England.
He would discriminate against Manchester with tears in
his eyes! Imperialist in his time spelled Conservative,
now it spells Liberal. The Conservatives have always
talked the loudest about the British bond, but when it
lately came to doing we're on record on the right side,
and they're on record on the wrong. But it must make the
old man's ghost sick to see--"
"To see his court suit stolen," Advena finished for him.
"As Disraeli said--wasn't it Disraeli?" She heard, and
hated the note of constraint in her voice. "Am I reduced,"
she thought, indignantly, "to falsetto?" and chose, since
she must choose, the betrayal of silence.
"It did one good to hear the question discussed on the
higher level," said Lorne. "You would think, to read the
papers, that all its merits could be put into dollars
and cents.
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