'On that point, mother,' I said, 'you must allow me to hold a
different opinion. I, for my part, should have said that Winifred's
story proclaimed her aunt to be a worthy member of a flunkey society
like this of ours--a society whose structure, political and moral and
religious, is based on an adamantine rock of paltry snobbery.'
It was impossible to restrain my indignation.
'I am aware, Henry,' replied my mother calmly, 'that it is one of the
fashions of the hour for young men of family to adopt the language of
Radical newspapers. In a country like this the affectation does no
great harm, I grant, and my only serious objection to it is that it
implies in young men of one's own class a lack of originality which
is a little humiliating. I am aware that your cousin, Percy Aylwin,
of Rington Manor, used to talk in the same strain as this, and ended
by joining the Gypsies. But I came to warn you, Henry, I came to urge
you not to injure this poor girl's reputation by such scenes as that
I witnessed this morning.'
I remained silent.
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