r
of Miltoun's mind and political convictions almost shocked one who knew
both by temperament and experience how to wait in front. This instruction
he had frequently had occasion to give his jockeys when he believed his
horses could best get home first in that way. And it was an instruction
he now longed to give his son. He himself had 'waited in front' for over
fifty years, and he knew it to be the finest way of insuring that he
would never be compelled to alter this desirable policy--for something in
Lord Valleys' character made him fear that, in real emergency, he would
exert himself to the point of the gravest discomfort sooner than be left
to wait behind. A fellow like young Harbinger, of course, he
understood--versatile, 'full of beans,' as he expressed it to himself in
his more confidential moments, who had imbibed the new wine (very
intoxicating it was) of desire for social reform. He would have to be
given his head a little--but there would be no difficulty with him, he
would never 'run out'--light handy build of horse that only required
steadying at the corners. He would want to hear himself talk, and be let
feel that he was doing something. All very well, and quite intelligible.
But with Miltoun (and Lord Valleys felt this to be no, mere parental
fancy) it was a very different business. His son had a way of forcing
things to their conclusions which was dangerous, and reminded him of his
mother-in-law. He was a baby in public affairs, of course, as yet; but
as soon as he once got going, the intensity of his convictions, together
with his position, and real gift--not of the gab, like Harbinger's--but
of restrained, biting oratory, was sure to bring him to the front with a
bound in the present state of parties. And what were those convictions?
Lord Valleys had tried to understand them, but up to the present he had
failed. And this did not surprise him exactly, since, as he often said,
political convictions were not, as they appeared on the surface, the
outcome of reason, but merely symptoms of temperament. And he could not
comprehend, because he could not sympathize with, any attitude towards
public affairs that was not essentially level, attached to the plain,
common-sense factors of the case as they appeared to himself. Not that
he could fairly be called a temporizer, for deep down in him there was
undoubtedly a vein of obstinate, fundamental loyalty to the traditions of
a caste which prized high spir