"Rag," she said, "something's the matter?" "Well--yes." "The house?" "Yes--the house." Marjorie considered through a little interval. "Old man, why are you so prejudiced against a bigger house?" "Oh, because the one we have bores me, and the next one will bore me more." "But try it." "I don't want to." "Well," she said and lapsed into silence. "And then," he asked, "what are we going to do?" "Going to do--when?" "After the new house----" "I'm going to open out," she said. He made no answer. "I want to open out. I want you to take your place in the world, the place you deserve." "A four-footman place?" "Oh! the house is only a means." He thought upon that. "A means," he asked, "to what? Look here, Marjorie, what do you think you are up to with me and yourself? What do you see me doing--in the years ahead?" She gave him a silent and thoughtful profile for a second or so. "At first I suppose you are going on with your researches." "Well?" "Then----I must tell you what I think of you, Rag. Politics----" "Good Lord!" "You've a sort of power. You could make things noble." "And then? Office?" "Why not? Look at the little men they are." "And then perhaps a still bigger house?" "You're not fair to me." He pulled up the bearskin over his knees. "Marjorie!" he said. "You see----We aren't going to do any of those things at all.... _No!_..." "I can't go on with my researches," he explained. "That's what you don't understand. I'm not able to get back to work. I shall never do any good research again. That's the real trouble, Marjorie, and it makes all the difference. As for politics----I can't touch politics. I despise politics. I think this empire and the monarchy and Lords and Commons and patriotism and social reform and all the rest of it, silly, _silly_ beyond words; temporary, accidental, foolish, a mere stop-gap--like a gipsey's roundabout in a place where one will presently build a house.... You don't help make the house by riding on the roundabout.... There's no clear knowledge--no clear purpose.... Only research matters--and expression perhaps--I suppose expression is a sort of research--until we get that--that sufficient knowledge. And you see, I can't take up my work again. I've lost something...." She waited.