Page:Arminell, a social romance (1896).djvu/252

244 lordship, in all simplicity of heart, wants to know what occasion he has given for this indignation. What occasion," with a chuckle, and those who could see his face and catch his tone chuckled also. "What occasion," with sarcasm, and his audience felt their gall rise. "What occasion," in a hollow thrilling tone, and the crowd responded with a groan. "Shall we tell his lordship? We will, and we will begin with some of the lighter grievances, heavy in themselves, but light in comparison with the others. In the first place, what does he mean by throwing open the grounds on a Tuesday, a day when the public, as he knows, the hard-working public which needs relaxation and the sight of the beautiful, cannot enjoy the boon? Is that, I ask, a day when the shops are closed? Is it a day when the sons of toil in our cities can get away from their labours and admire the beauties of nature, and the charms of art? It is not. The grounds are thrown open on Tuesdays, with almost fiendish malevolence, and the cunning of the serpent, that his lordship may obtain the credit of liberality, whilst doing nothing to deserve it. The true public are excluded by the selection of the day, but the gentle-folks, the parsons, the squires, and all the do-nothings, to whom one day is as another, they can see Orleigh Park on Tuesdays. If Lord Lamerton had in him any true humanity, any sympathy for the tradesman, for the clerk, for the milliner and the seamstress, he would open on—let us say Saturday."

"Very well," said Lord Lamerton, "I have no objection in the world, except that it will give the gardeners more to do, picking up the papers and scraps—henceforth the grounds shall be open to the public on Saturdays."

"But, my lord, are the pictures and statuary and other works of art to be shown only to the aristocratic eye, and are they to be carefully kept within closed doors from the profane gaze of what you contemptuously call—The Common People?"