Hescoming to tea with some of us at the Institute
on Wednesday. He had not been greatlyimpressed by what he had read in the
newspapers. But it had acuriously attractive, even compelling, power.
Give himthe puppy and thank you so much, Adam dear.
But he was still the observer,and even the friendliest of company could not make him
expand. If Im any use its not in confirming believers in their faith orgiving the
idle a new thrill. Ive heard a lot aboutFrank Alban, but I never thought he was that
class.
He must have been over sixty, for his mop of hair
was whiteand his square face was deeply lined.
Old Stockley wants to become a squire,and Wards
reaching out for another farm over Ambleton way.
I ca them thearithmetical and the pheelosophical
schools.
Adam had heard it all ahundred times, but he was
impressed with Utlaws handling of thetalkers.
Youve often said you wanted to makea domestic pet
of a Labour leader.
Itsspelt Covert and pronounced Court in the best
Norman style.
Lifes a perpetual affair of goingover the top, he
said; and it doesnt provide a rum ration.
There was a daily letter-baglike that of the editor
of a popular newspaper.
Toshake loose from such a dwelling would be like
the pulling up ofmandrakes. But at the back ofhis head he heard the shriek of the
uprooted mandrakes.
His humour was his salvation, for he had a
pleasantgift of laughing at himself. No, said Adam, I left the toy-shops alone! He
had large dreams for Englishagriculture.