In one consciousness Lorne made concise and relevant
remarks; in another he sat in a spinning dark world and
waited for the crash.
It seemed to come when Hesketh said, preparing to go,
"I'll tell Miss Milburn I saw you. I suppose this change
in your political prospects won't affect your professional
plans in any way you'll stick on here, at the Bar?"
It was the very shock of calamity, and for the instant
he could see nothing in the night of it but one far avenue
of escape, a possibility he had never thought of seriously
until that moment. The conception seemed to form itself
on his lips, to be involuntary.
"I don't know. A college friend has been pressing me for
some time to join him in Milwaukee. He offers me plenty
of work, and I am thinking seriously of closing with
him."
"Go over to the United States? You can't mean that!"
"Oh yes--it's the next best thing!"
Hesketh's face assumed a gravity, a look of feeling and
of remonstrance. He came a step nearer and put a hand on
his companion's arm.
"Come now, Murchison," he said, "I ask you--is this a
time to be thinking of chucking the Empire?"
Lorne moved farther into the passage with an abruptness
which left his interlocutor staring. He stood there for
a moment in silence, and then turned to mount the stair
with a reply which a passing dray happily prevented from
reaching Hesketh's ears.
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