rly practical. Griffiths has antiquated
notions of economics, however, and some of the things he says prevent me
from joining him. His great idea is to attract capital to Ireland by
telling capitalists how cheap Irish labour is. That seems to me to be an
abominable proposal, likely to lead to something worse than Wigan and
all those miserable English towns your father dislikes so heartily. And
probably, of all his proposals, it is the most likely to succeed. That's
why I'm opposed to him at present. I cannot bear the thought of seeing
England duplicated in Ireland. But the scheme has merit, and Galway and
I are plotting to capture the movement from Griffiths. We think that if
we could graft the Sinn Fein on to the Gaelic League, we'd be on the way
to establishing Irish independence. Our people are becoming very
materialistic, and we must quicken their spirits again somehow. Douglas
Hyde is the trouble, of course. He wants to keep the Gaelic League clear
of politics. As if you can possibly keep politics out of anything in
Ireland! We want to make every Gaelic Leaguer a conscious rebel against
English beliefs and English habits. I wish you'd come over and join us.
It'll be very hard, but exhilarating, work. You've no notion of how
sordid and money-grubbing and English the mass of our people are
becoming. It's a man's job to destroy that spirit and revive the old,
careless, generous, God-loving Irish one...._"

"Still harping on that old nationality," Henry thought to himself, when
he had finished reading the letter.

He was in no mood for thoughts on Ireland. His mind was still full of
the idea that had come into his head the previous night. _Why should he
not get married?_ The idea attracted and repelled him. It would, he
thought, be very pleasant to live with ... with Mary, say ... to love
her and be loved by her ... very pleasant ... but one would have to
accept responsibilities, and there would probably be children. He would
dislike having to leave Ninian and Roger and Gilbert, particularly
Gilbert, and his share in the meetings of the Improved Tories would
begin to dwindle. On the other hand, there would be Mary ... If he were
to lose his friends and the careless, cultured life they led in the
Bloomsbury house, he would gain Mary, and perhaps she would more than
compensate for them....

Gilbert interrupted his thoughts.

"Rum go, this about Roger, isn't it?" he said.

Henry nodded his head. "I hadn't any idea of