"It's just the size of the moon, I've heard!" said Robinette teasingly. "Does that throw any light on the question?" "Moonlight!" laughed Carnaby, much pleased with his own wit. "Ha! ha! That's the first joke I've made this holidays. _Moonlight!_ Jolly good!" "If you'd take a joke a little more in your stride, my son," said Lavendar, "we should be more impressed by your mental sparkles." "Straighten the sofa-cushions, Carnaby," said his grandmother, "and don't lounge. I missed the point of your so-called joke entirely. As to the size of a country or anything else, I have never understood that it affected its quality. In fruit or vegetables, for instance, it generally means coarseness and indifferent flavour." Miss Smeardon beamed at this palpable hit, but Mrs. Loring deprived the situation of its point by backing up Mrs. de Tracy heartily. She had no opinion of mere size, either, she declared. "You don't stand up for your country half enough," objected Carnaby to his cousin. ("Why don't you give the old cat beans?" was his supplement, _sotto voce_.) "Just attack some of my pet theories and convictions, Middy dear, if you wish to see me in a rage," said Robinette lightly, "but my motto will never be 'My country right or wrong.'" "Nor mine," agreed Lavendar. "I'm heartily with you there." "It's a great venture we're trying in America. I wish every one would try to look at it in that light," said Robinette with a slight flush of earnestness. "What do you mean by a venture?" asked Mrs. de Tracy. "The experiment we're making in democracy," answered Robinette. "It's fallen to us to try it, for of course it simply had to be tried. It is thrillingly interesting, whatever it may turn out, and I wish I might live to see the end of it. We are creating a race, Aunt de Tracy; think of that!" "It's as difficult for nations as for individuals to hit the happy medium," said Lavendar, stirring the fire. "Enterprise carried too far becomes vulgar hustling, while stability and conservatism often pass the coveted point of repose and degenerate into torpor." "This part of England seems to me singularly free from faults," interposed Mrs. de Tracy in didactic tones. "We have a wonderful climate; more sunshine than in any part of the island, I believe. Our local society is singularly free from scandal. The clergy, if not quite as eloquent or profound as in London (and in my opinion it is the better for being neither) is strictly conscientious. We have no burglars or locusts or gnats or even midges, as I'm told they unfortunately have in Scotland, and our dinner-parties, though quiet and dignified, are never dull.... What is the matter, Robinetta?" "A sudden catch in my throat," said Robinette, struggling with some sort of vocal difficulty and avoiding Lavendar's eye. "Thank you," as he offered her a glass of water from the punctual and strictly temperate evening tray. "Don't look at me," she added under her voice.