"Well done, pater!" cried Harry, readily switched off from his heated enthusiasm. "Which for the husband, which for the wife?" "Both for both, Harry. Toleration to-day, and an unlimited power of oblivion to-morrow." "What nonsense you're talking, dear," placidly smiled Mrs. Belfield. "I'm exactly defining your own characteristics," he replied. "If you do that to a woman, she always says you're talking nonsense." "An unlimited supply of the water of Lethe, pater? That does it?" "That's about it, Harry. If you mix it with a little sound Scotch whisky before you go to bed--" Andy burst into a good guffaw; the kindly mocking humour pleased him. Vivien was alert too; there was nothing to frighten, much to enjoy; the glow deepened on her cheeks. But Wellgood was not content; he was baulked of his argument, of his fight. "We've wandered from the point," he said dourly. ("As if wanderings were not the best things in the world!" thought more than one of the party, more or less explicitly.) "We give, they take." He was back to the United Kingdom and the Colonies. "Could anything be more nicely exact to my parallel?" asked Belfield, socratically smiling. "Did you ever know a marriage where each partner didn't say, 'I give, you take'? Some add that they're content with the arrangement, others don't." "Pater, you always mix up different things," Harry protested, laughing. "I'm always trying to find out whether there are any different things, Harry." He smiled at his son. "Wives, that's what they are! And several of them! Harry, we're in for all the difficulties of polygamy! A preference to one--oh no, I'm not spelling it with a big P! But--well, the ladies ought to be able to help us here. Could you share a heart, Miss Vintry?" Isobel's white was relieved with gold trimmings; she looked sumptuous. "I shouldn't like it," she answered. "What has all this got to do with the practical problem?" Wellgood demanded. "Our trade with the Colonies is no more than thirty per cent--" "I agree with you, Mr. Wellgood. The gentlemen had much better have kept to their politics," Mrs. Belfield interposed with suave placidity. "They understand them. When they begin to talk about women--" "Need of Lethe--whisky and Lethe-water!" chuckled Harry. "In a large glass, eh, Andy?" Wellgood turned suddenly on Andy. "You've lived in Canada. What do you say?" Andy had been far too much occupied in listening. Besides, he was no politician. He thought deeply for a moment. "A lot depends on whether you want to buy or to sell." He delivered himself of this truth quite solemnly. "A very far-reaching observation," said Mr. Belfield. "Goes to the root of human traffic, and, quite possibly, to that of both the institutions which we have been discussing. I wonder whether either will be permanent!" "Look here, pater, we're at dessert! Aren't you starting rather big subjects?"