Gorman came in with Miss Gibson and I was introduced to her. She seemed
a nice, quiet little girl, and smiled rather shyly as we shook hands.
She sat down beside Mrs. Ascher and refused the cigarette which was
offered her. She did not in the least correspond to my idea of what
a leading lady in a popular play should be. However I had not much
opportunity just then of forming an opinion of her. Gorman, having
settled the two ladies, took Ascher and me to the far end of the
carriage. The train started.

"That's a damned silly performance," said Gorman, "landing those guns in
Galway."

"I should have thought," I said, "that you'd have been pleased. You were
talking to me the other day about the necessity for pulling off some
coup of a striking and theatrical kind by way of diverting the sympathy
of the English people from Ulster."

"But this," said Gorman, "is a totally different thing. I happen to
know what I'm talking about. The fellows who've got these guns are wild,
irresponsible, unpractical fools. They've been giving us trouble for
years, far more trouble than all the Unionist party put together.
They don't understand politics in the least. They've no sense. They're
like--like----" he looked round for some comparison, "in some ways
they're rather like Tim."

"Dreamers," I said.

"Exactly," said Gorman. "They ought to be writing poetry."

"Lofty souls," I said, "idealists. Just exactly what Mrs. Ascher thinks
you are."

"Take the case of Tim," said Gorman. "You'll hardly believe it but--just
look at his clothes, will you?"

Tim was standing by himself in the middle of the carriage. He looked
forlorn. He was too shy, I imagine, to sit down beside Mrs. Ascher or
Miss Gibson, and too much afraid of his brother to join our group. We
had every opportunity of studying his clothes.

"And I told him to buy a new suit," said Gorman.

"That," I said, "is just the kind of man that Mrs. Ascher believes in.
She was saying to me a few minutes ago that there is nothing more sordid
and detestable than the worship of efficiency in practical matters."

The mention of Mrs. Ascher's name recalled Gorman to a sense of his
duties as a host. The two ladies were not getting on very well together.
I imagine that Mrs. Ascher was too much excited by her Irish news to
care for talking about the Naval Review we were going to see, and that
was a topic which would inevitably suggest itself to Miss Gibson. Miss
Gibson, though anxiou