Prothero's interest in this question presently swamped his petty
personal resentments. "I suppose," he said, "one might have rather
a lark with money like that. One would be free to go anywhere. To
set all sorts of things going. . . . It's clear you can't sell all
you have and give it to the poor. That is pauperization nowadays.
You might run a tremendously revolutionary paper. A real upsetting
paper. How many thousands is it?"

"I don't know. SOME."

Prothero's interest was growing as he faced the possibilities.

"I've dreamt of a paper," he said, "a paper that should tell the
brute truth about things."

"I don't know that I'm particularly built to be a journalist,"
Benham objected.

"You're not," said Billy. . . . "You might go into Parliament as a
perfectly independent member. . . . Only you wouldn't get in. . . ."

"I'm not a speaker," said Benham.

"Of course," said Billy, "if you don't decide on a game, you'll just
go on like this. You'll fall into a groove, you'll--you'll hunt.
You'll go to Scotland for the grouse."

For the moment Prothero had no further suggestions.