'That wretched sedative has not gripped me yet, and if I went in now I'd be sure to relate the history of my life when I was one of the Mormons, and loved my eleven wives most dearly. That would never do; would it, George?' 'No, certainly not. I really wish you would try and be reasonable.' 'Oh, blame not the bard if he fly to the bower where a narcotic lies carelessly smiling at pirates. Don't let us go in yet. That drug has not fetched me, and I am all adrift. But how much better I feel upon coming back to my native air!' 'I thought you told me you were born at sea?' asked Osborne. 'Oh, bother! What a fellow you are for detail! If I come here and settle down, does not this become my native air? Do you mean to say that if a doctor ordered me to my native air I should be obliged to learn navigation to find out the exact position of the ship I was born in at the moment I first saw the light, and that I should then have a kind of raft built and towed there, and that I should have to live on that raft until my health was fully restored or a devil-fish ate me? Or do you think if I was recommended to turn myself loose in my native wilds I'd go and drag out a miserable existence at Stepney? Rubbish! A man's native place is the place he loves best. At least that is my definition of it; and in any discussion a man has a right to make his own definitions, has he not?' 'Undoubtedly. He has a right to his own definitions until they are challenged.' 'Talking of discussions makes me think of argument, and argument naturally takes me back to discussion, and backing and filling in that latitude brings me, Osborne, upon a profound reflection. Let us walk on awhile till that sedative turns up. You will be able to recognise its exhibition by a slightly nasal twang and a slightly pious tone. When you find these symptoms, lead me back. But as I was going to say, I have come upon a fine rule for the discussion of the future. We all know a man may start by defining everything to be nothing. Very good. We also know that never in the history of man has one discussion caused one man to alter his mind. Now if a man has a right to his definitions, and if his arguments and deductions can have no influence on the mind of his adversary, why not postulate his arguments and deductions at once, and be done with the whole matter? But, Osborne, this is no better than trifling. In fact, Osborne, it is not even trifling; it is deliberate folly. I am awfully nervous, and I am in mortal terror that my nervousness will betray me into some mischief or other in this coming interview. Do you detect a pious odour? Do you notice a nasal twang?' 'I think if you intend calling this afternoon you had better go now.' 'Very well. Lead on. Osborne, I never, knew what nervousness was until now.' They retraced their steps, and in a few minutes entered the house. The servant said Mrs Osborne would be down in a short time. Miss Alice was in the drawing-room.