th his conversational powers;
but Lord Dymchurch promised to be an exception, and of him Dyce had
already a very high opinion.

After an hour or so of smoking and musing and mental vacillation, he
sat down to write his letter. "Dear Miss Connie," he began. It was the
name by which he addressed Miss Bride in the old days, and it seemed
good to him to preserve their former relations as far as possible; for
Constance, though a strange sort of girl, nowadays decidedly cold and
dry, undeniably had brains, and might still be capable of appreciating
him. "Yesterday I had to come back to town in a hurry, owing to the
receipt of some disagreeable news, so of necessity I postponed my visit
to Hollingford. It occurs to me that I had better ask whether you were
serious in your suggestion that Lady Ogram might be glad to make my
acquaintance. I know nothing whatever about her, except what you told
me on our walk to the station, so cannot be sure whether she is likely
to take any real interest in my ideas. Our time together was too short
for me to explain my stand-point; perhaps I had better say a word or
two about it now. I am a Socialist--but not a Social-democrat;
democracy (which, for the rest, has never existed) I look upon as an
absurdity condemned by all the teachings of modern science. I am a
Socialist, for I believe that the principle of association is the only
principle of progress."

Here he paused, his pen suspended. He was on the point of referring to
the French book which he had read with so much profit of late, and
which now lay on the table before him. It might interest Constance; she
might like to know of it. He mused for some moments, dipped his pen,
and wrote on.

"But association means division of labour, and that labour may be
efficient there must be some one capable of directing it. What the true
Socialism has to keep in view is a principle of justice in the balance
of rights and duties between the few who lead and the multitude who
follow. In the history of the world hitherto, the multitude has had
less than its share, the ruling classes have tyrannised. At present
it's pretty obvious that we're in danger of just the opposite excess;
Demos begins to roar alarmingly, and there'll be a poor look out for us
if he gets all he wants. What we need above all things is a reform in
education. We are teaching the people too much and too little. The
first duty of the State is to make citizens, and that can only be done