“Quite long enough,” responded Mr Trenchard, “to see that this country, if you will pardon my saying so, is in a devilish bad way,” and launched therewith into a narrative of his experiences in Burgundy and Franche-Comté, in the course of which he contrived to impart to his companions a quantity of information about their native land, and to lay open his own convictions with no sparing hand. Louis, who rode in the middle, listened with concealed amusement; the Marquis scarcely attended to the sense of Mr Trenchard’s utterances, but the knowledge that somebody whom he did not know was talking copiously about matters which did not personally concern him, acted as a kind of vent for his own thoughts, and he let his mind float away on the stream. There reached him occasional fragments of what appeared to be a lecture on the English constitution—“the noblest in the world,” on the English system of local government, “which is just what your lower orders need,” on the duty of a landlord to reside on his estate. “I am so thankful,” he heard Mr Trenchard to remark at this point, “to think that the tradition of our own country is that the interests of the landlords are the interests of his tenants, and that he is always welcome back among them. Here, I am afraid it is very different; and this, it seems to me, is the root of the whole trouble.” “I must tell you,” said Louis, with a note of enjoyment in his voice, “that my cousin has always lived on his estates, from choice.” “Indeed!” said the Englishman, a little taken aback, and Gilbert was conscious that he was craning his neck in the darkness to look at him. “I did not believe that there was a single proprietor in France who did so; I had heard rumours, but discredited them.” “There are,” said the Vicomte judicially, “a number of such persons, and in my opinion it is they who are responsible for the Revolution.” The champion of the resident landlord could by no means accept this staggering statement, and he proceeded to combat it with due vigour, evidently expecting the Marquis to bear his part in rebutting the charge brought against him by his kinsman. But nothing was further from Gilbert’s intentions, and the argument, which had now taken the place of the lecture, continued as a duologue.