table at home, a statement which confirmed the good
opinions they had formed of his familiarity with the subject.

I floated in with some comparisons touching upon the technic of the
two schools of water-color painting, and, finding that the curate had a
brother who was an R.A., backed out again and rested on my oars.

Mac, more or less concerned over the expected arrival, and anxious that
his listeners should not consider the magnate as a fair example of his
countrymen, launched out upon the absence of all class distinctions
at home-one man as good as another--making Presidents out of farmers,
Senators out of cellar diggers, every man a king--that sort of thing.

When Mac had finished--and these Englishmen _let you finish_--the
mill-owner, a heavy, red-faced man (out-of-doors exercise, not
Burgundy), with a gray whisker dabbed high up on each cheek, and a
pair of keen, merry eyes, threw back the lapels of his velveteen coat
(riding-trousers to match), and answered slowly:

"You'll excuse me, sir, but I stopped a while in the States, and I can't
agree with you. We take off our caps here to a lord because he is part
of our national system, but we never bow down to the shillings he keeps
in his strong box. You do."

The lists were "open" now. Mac fought valiantly, the curate helping him
once in a while; Lonnegan putting in a word for the several professions
as being always exempt--brains, not money, counting in their case--Mac
winning the first round with:

"Not all of us, my dear sir; not by a long shot. When any of our people
turn sycophants, it is you English who have coached them. A lord with
you is a man who doesn't have to work. So, when any of us come over
here to play--and that's what we generally come for--everybody, to our
surprise, kotows to us, and we acknowledge the attention by giving a
shilling to whoever holds out his hand. Now, nobody ever kotows to us at
home. We'd get suspicious right away if they did and shift our wallets
to the other pocket; not that we are not generous, but we don't like
that sort of thing. We do here--that is, some of us do, because it marks
the difference in rank, and we all, being kings, are tickled to death
that your flunkies recognize that fact the moment they clap eyes on us."

Lonnegan looked at Mac curiously. The dear fellow must be talking
through his hat.

"Now, I got a sudden shock on the steamer on my way home last fall,
and from an _American gentleman_, too--one