Elizabeth's Campaign by Mrs. Humphry Ward
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hostility in his pleasant blue eyes.
'Fifteen years too long,' interrupted Sir Henry. 'I tell you, Adam, we can't afford now to let men like Gregson spoil good land while the country's likely to go hungry! The old happy-go-lucky days are done with. I wonder whether even you recognize that we're fighting for our lives?' 'I know we are, Sir Henry. But if the war makes slaves of us what good will it do if we do win it?' Sir Henry laughed. 'Well, Adam, you were always a Radical and I was always a Conservative. And I don't like being managed any more than you do. But look at the way I'm managed in my business!--harried up and down by a parcel of young fellows from the Ministry that often seem to me fools! But we've all got to come in. And this country's worth it!' 'You know I'm with you there, sir. But why don't you get at the Squire himself? What good have he or his agent ever been to anybody? You're a landlord worth living under; but--' 'Ah! don't be in too great a hurry, Adam, and you'll see what you will see!' And with a pleasant salute, his handsome face twitching between frowns and smiles, Sir Henry rode on. 'What trade unionists we all are--high and low! That man's as good a farmer as Gregson's a vile one. But he stands by his like, as I stand by mine.' Then his thoughts took a different turn. He was entering a park, evidently of wide extent, and finely wooded. The road through it had |
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