Lorne half-turned to him with a gesture of protest.

Then he went on-- "If that transport ever left the shores of England we would go far, some of us, to meet it; but for all the purposes that matter most it sailed long ago.

British statesmen could bring us nothing better than the ideals of British government; and those we have had since we levied our first tax and made our first law.

That precious cargo was our heritage, and we never threw it overboard, but chose rather to render what impost it brought; and there are those who say that the impost has been heavy, though never a dollar was paid." He paused for an instant and seemed to review and take account of what he had said.

He was hopelessly adrift from the subject he had proposed to himself, launched for better or for worse upon the theme that was subliminal in him and had flowed up, on which he was launched, and almost rudderless, without construction and without control.