“Anywhere else they might be leaders, but they have no social weight in this topsy-turvy land, and though they have been employed in clerical work for generations, they have no practical knowledge of affairs. A ship’s clerk is a useful person, but he is scarcely the captain; and an orderly-room writer, however smart he may be, is not the colonel. You see, the writer class in India has never till now aspired to anything like command. It wasn’t allowed to. The Indian gentleman, for thousands of years past, has resembled Victor Hugo’s noble: “Un vrai sire Chatelain Laisse ecrire Le vilain. Sa main digne Quand il signe Egratigne Le velin.” And the little _egratignures_ he most likes to make have been scored pretty deeply by the sword.“ “But this is childish and mediæval nonsense!” “Precisely; and from your, or rather our, point of view the pen _is_ mightier than the sword. In this country it’s otherwise. The fault lies in our Indian balances, not yet adjusted to civilised weights and measures.” “Well, at all events, this literary class represent the natural aspirations and wishes of the people at large, though it may not exactly lead them, and, in spite of all you say, Orde, I defy you to find a really sound English Radical who would not sympathise with those aspirations.” Pagett spoke with some warmth, and he had scarcely ceased when a well-appointed dog-cart turned into the compound gates, and Orde rose, saying: “Here is Edwards, the Master of the Lodge I neglect so diligently, come to talk about accounts, I suppose.” As the vehicle drove up under the porch Pagett also rose, saying with the trained effusion born of much practice: “But this is also _my_ friend, my old and valued friend, Edwards. I’m delighted to see you. I knew you were in India, but not exactly where.” “Then it isn’t accounts, Mr. Edwards,” said Orde cheerily. “Why, no, sir; I heard Mr. Pagett was coming, and as our works were closed for the New Year I thought I would drive over and see him.” “A very happy thought. Mr. Edwards, you may not know, Orde, was a leading member of our Radical Club at Switchton when I was beginning political life, and I owe much to his exertions. There’s no pleasure like meeting an old friend, except, perhaps, making a new one. I suppose, Mr. Edwards, you stick to the good old cause?” “Well, you see, sir, things are different out here. There’s precious little one can find to say against the Government, which was the main of our talk at home, and them that do say things are not the sort o’ people a man who respects himself would like to be mixed up with. There are no politics, in a manner of speaking, in India. It’s all work.”