to be thrown out of our land,
an' louts like Tom McCrum are to be put in our place!..."

Henry had sympathised with his father then, but he felt that the best of
the argument was with John Marsh who had replied that the Irish
landlords would never have been dispossessed of their land, if they had
been worthy of it. "If they'd thought as much about their
responsibilities as they thought about their rights, they'd still have
their rights!" he said.

"I suppose that's so," Henry said to himself, picking up a paper that he
had bought in Liverpool and beginning to read. "I must talk to Gilbert
about it!"

4

Ninian and Gilbert met him at Whitcombe station. As he stood on the
little platform of the carriage, he could see that Mary was not with
them, and he felt disappointed. She might have come, too!...

"Here he is," he heard Gilbert shout to Ninian as the train drew up.
"Hilloa, Quinny!"

"Hilloa, Gilbert!"

"Hop out quickly, will you!"

He hopped out as quickly as he could and said "Hilloa!" to Ninian, who
said "Hilloa!" and slapped his back and called him an old rotter.

"Widger'll take your luggage," Gilbert said, taking control of their
movements as he always did. "Hang on to this, Widger," he added, taking
a handbag from Henry and throwing it into Widger's arms. "Show him the
rest of your stuff, Quinny, and let's hook off. We're going to walk to
Boveyhayne. You'll need a stretch after sitting all that time, and
Ninian's getting disgustingly obese, so we make him run up and down the
road over the cliff three times so's to thin him down!..."

"Funny ass!" said Ninian.

"Mrs. Graham wanted Mary to come with us, but we wouldn't let her. We're
tired of females, Ninian and I, and Mary's very femaley at present.
She's started to read poetry!..."

"Out loud!" Ninian growled. "I'm sick of people who read out loud to me.
When Mary's not spouting stuff about 'love' and 'dove' and 'heaven
above' and that sort of rot, Gilbert's reading his damn play to me!"

"I'll read it to you, Quinny!" Gilbert said, linking his arm in Henry's.

They had left the station, and were now walking along the unfinished
road above the shingle. There was a heat haze hanging over the smooth
blue sea, so that sky and water merged into each other imperceptibly. In
front of them, they could see the white cliffs of Boveyhayne shining in
the descending sun. There were great stalks of charlock, standing out of
the grass on the face of the cl