‘What do you mean by a fellow like me?’ broke in Dick, somewhat angrily. ‘I mean this, that I’d as soon set to work to explain the theory of exchequer bonds to an Eskimo, as to make an unimaginative man understand something purely speculative. What you, and scores of fellows like you, denominate vanity, is only another form of hopefulness. You and your brethren--for you are a large family--do you know what it is to Hope! that is, you have no idea of what it is to build on the foundation of certain qualities you recognise in yourself, and to say that “if I can go so far with such a gift, such another will help me on so much farther.”’ ‘I tell you one thing I do hope, which is, that the next time I set out a twelve miles’ walk, I’ll have a companion less imbued with self-admiration.’ ‘And you might and might not find him pleasanter company. Cannot you see, old fellow, that the very things you object to in me are what are wanting in you? they are, so to say, the compliments of your own temperament.’ ‘Have you a cigar?’ ‘Two--take them both. I’d rather talk than smoke just now.’ ‘I am almost sorry for it, though it gives me the tobacco.’ ‘Are we on your father’s property yet?’ ‘Yes; part of that village we came through belongs to us, and all this bog here is ours.’ ‘Why don’t you reclaim it? labour costs a mere nothing in this country. Why don’t you drain those tracts, and treat the soil with lime? I’d live on potatoes, I’d make my family live on potatoes, and my son, and my grandson, for three generations, but I’d win this land back to culture and productiveness.’ ‘The fee-simple of the soil wouldn’t pay the cost. It would be cheaper to save the money and buy an estate.’ ‘That is one, and a very narrow view of it; but imagine the glory of restoring a lost tract to a nation, welcoming back the prodigal, and installing him in his place amongst his brethren. This was all forest once. Under the shade of the mighty oaks here those gallant O’Caharneys your ancestors followed the chase, or rested at noontide, or skedaddled in double-quick before those smart English of the Pale, who I must say treated your forbears with scant courtesy.’ ‘We held our own against them for many a year.’ ‘Only when it became so small it was not worth taking. Is not your father a Whig?’ ‘He’s a Liberal, but he troubles himself little about parties.’ ‘He’s a stout Catholic, though, isn’t he?’ ‘He is a very devout believer in his Church,’ said Dick with the tone of one who did not desire to continue the theme. ‘Then why does he stop at Whiggery? why not go in for Nationalism and all the rest of it?’ ‘And what’s all the rest of it?’