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 CHAPTER XXVI

A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

Why people should be so vexed by things that other people, equally serious of mind, don't care twopence about is one of the enigmas that is best left to the philosophers.

Father and Mother were much upset by Mr. Philip's act of treachery. Yet there was really no need for them to take it so tragically. The heir to the barony had attained the age when a man is allowed to do a little private thinking. But neither Father nor Mother was in sympathy with that point of view.

Something must be done in this national crisis. Energetic action must be taken. Mr. Vandeleur would never forgive it; the Party would never forgive it: the Country would never forgive it; the Empire would never forgive it.

If you make a practice of thinking imperially, you must view things on a comprehensive basis.

By the irony of circumstance, Mother and Father were dining out that evening in the Inner Circles of the Party. It was a small and quite unofficial occasion; but several of the Heads would be there.