"
"That's seven hundred pounds," said Pagett, quickly.
"I wish it was," replied Orde; "but anyway, it's an absurdly inadequate sum,
and shows one of the blank sides of Oriental character."
Pagett was silent for a long time. The question of direct and personal pain
did not lie within his researches. He preferred to discuss the weightier
matters of the law, and contented himself with murmuring: "They'll do better
later on." Then, with a rush, returning to his first thought:
"But, my dear Orde, if it's merely a class movement of a local and temporary
character, how d' you account for Bradlaugh, who is at least a man of sense,
taking it up?"
"I know nothing of the champion of the New Brahmins but what I see in the
papers. I suppose there is something tempting in being hailed by a large
assemblage as the representative of the aspirations of two hundred and fifty
millions of people. Such a man looks 'through all the roaring and the
wreaths,' and does not reflect that it is a false perspective, which, as a
matter of fact, hides the real complex and manifold India from his gaze. He
can scarcely be expected to distinguish between the ambitions of a new
oligarchy and the real wants of the people of whom he knows nothing.
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