Fairfax felt uneasy under that look. He blushed, he could scarcely tell why. “I can’t be said to be more than a chance acquaintance,” he said. “It was a lucky chance for me. I have known Markham for a long time. I’ve known _him_ pretty well; but it was a mere chance which brought Sir William to me when they were looking for Markham; and then, by another chance, I was calling when he was taken ill. That’s all. I feel as if I were of a little use, and that makes me hesitate; but I know I have no right to be here.” “Who’s Markham? The--son, I suppose?” “Yes, the eldest son. I suppose you know him as Paul. Of course,” said Fairfax, with hesitation, “he ought to be here; but there are some family misunderstandings. He doesn’t know, of course, how serious it is.” “Wild?” said Mr. Gus, with his little, precise air. “Oh--I don’t quite know what you mean by wild. Viewy he is, certainly.” “Viewy? Now I don’t know what you mean by viewy. It is not a word that has got as far as the tropics, I suppose.” Fairfax paused to give a look of increased interest at the “little gentleman.” He began to be amused, and it was easy--very easy--to lead him from his own affairs into the consideration of some one else’s. “Paul,” he said--“I have got into the way of calling him Paul since I have been here, as they all do--goes wrong by the head, not in any other way. We have been dabbling in--what shall I call it?--socialism, communism, in a way--the whole set of us: and he is more in earnest than the rest; he is giving himself up to it.” “Socialism--communism!” cried Mr. Gus; he was horrified in his simplicity. “Why that’s revolution, that’s bloodshed and murder!” he cried. “Oh, no; we’re not of the bloody kind--we’re not red,” said Fairfax, laughing. “It’s the communism that is going to form an ideal society--not fire and flame and barricades.” “You don’t mean to tell me,” said Gus, not listening to this explanation, “that this young Markham--Paul, this Lady Markham’s son--is one of those villains that want to assassinate all the kings, and plunge all Europe into trouble? Good God! what a lucky thing I came here!”