"Not if the father and mother of all the Howards had never been
married," said Mackinnon.

"What; that from you, Mr. Mackinnon!" said Mrs. Talboys, turning her
back with energy upon the equestrian statue, and looking up into the
faces, first of Pollux and then of Castor, as though from them she
might gain some inspiration on the subject which Marcus Aurelius in
his coldness had denied to her. "From you, who have so nobly
claimed for mankind the divine attributes of free action! From you,
who have taught my mind to soar above the petty bonds which one man
in his littleness contrives for the subjection of his brother.
Mackinnon! you who are so great!" And she now looked up into his
face. "Mackinnon, unsay those words."

"They ARE illegitimate," said he; "and if there was any landed
property--"

"Landed property! and that from an American!"

"The children are English, you know."

"Landed property! The time will shortly come--ay, and I see it
coming--when that hateful word shall be expunged from the calendar;
when landed property shall be no more. What! shall the free soul of
a God-born man submit itself for ever to such trammels as that?
Shall we never escape from the clay which so long has manacled the
subtler particles of the divine spirit? Ay, yes, Mackinnon;" and
then she took him by the arm, and led him to the top of the huge
steps which lead down from the Campidoglio into the streets of