They have denounced Mr. Lloyd
George as a traitor to his country. This man has risen and shaken
them by the hand, words being too weak to express his admiration of
their outspoken fearlessness. You might have thought them Nihilists
denouncing the Russian Government from the steps of the Kremlin at
Moscow. They have, in the next breath, abused Mr. Balfour in terms
transgressing the law of slander. He has almost fallen on their
necks. It has transpired that the one dream of his life was to hear
Mr. Balfour abused. I have talked to him myself for a quarter of an
hour, and gathered that at heart he was a peace-at-any-price man,
strongly in favour of Conscription, a vehement Republican, with a
deep-rooted contempt for the working classes. It is not bad sport to
collect half a dozen and talk round him. At such times he suggests
the family dog that six people from different parts of the house are
calling to at the same time. He wants to go to them all at once.
I felt I had got to understand this man, or he would worry me.
"We are going to be neighbours," I said, "and I am inclined to think
I shall like you. That is, if I can get to know you. You commence
by enthusing on philosophy: I hasten to agree with you. It is a
noble science. When my youngest daughter has grown up, when the
other one has learnt a little sense, when Dick is off my hands, and
the British public has come to appreciate good literature, I am
hoping to be a bit of a philosopher myself.
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