"You are going to Hamley--we shall meet there?" she continued.
"To-day I should have gone, but I have business at the Foreign Office
to-morrow. One needs time to learn that all 'private interests and
partial affections' must be sacrificed to public duty."
"But you are going soon? You will be there on Sunday?"
"I shall be there to-morrow night, and Sunday, and for one long week at
least. Hamley is the centre of the world, the axle of the universe--you
shall see. You doubt it?" he added, with a whimsical smile.
"I shall dispute most of what you say, and all that you think, if you do
not continue to use the Quaker 'thee' and 'thou'--ungrammatical as you
are so often."
"Thee is now the only person in London, or in England, with whom I use
'thee' and 'thou.' I am no longer my own master, I am a public servant,
and so I must follow custom."
"It is destructive of personality. The 'thee' and 'thou' belong to you. I
wonder if the people of Hamley will say 'thee' and 'thou' to me. I hope,
I do hope they will."
"Thee may be sure they will.
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