第52章

HerestedonthatforsometimeZzzz-ing。

Thenhebrokeoutatanewplaceinatoneofdetachedcriticism。

“There’sBoom。”hereflected。

“It’sawonderfulsystemthisoldBritishsystem，George。It’sstaidandstableandyetithasaplacefornewmen。Wecomeupandtakeourplaces。It’salmostexpected。Wetakeahand。

That’swhereourDemocracydiffersfromAmerica。Overthereamansucceeds；allhegetsismoney。Herethere’sasystemopentoeveryone——practically。ChapslikeBoom——comefromnowhere。”

Hisvoiceceased。Ireflecteduponthespiritofhiswords。

SuddenlyIkickedmyfeetintheair，rolledonmysideandsatupsuddenlyonmydeckchairwithmylegsdown。

“Youdon’tmeanit！”Isaid。

“Meanwhat，George？”

“Subscriptiontothepartyfunds。Reciprocaladvantage。Havewegottothat？”

“Whadyoudrivingat，George？”

“Youknow。They’dneverdoit，man！”

“Dowhat？”hesaidfeebly；and，“Whyshouldn’tthey？”

“They’dnotevengotoabaronetcy。NO！。Andyet，ofcourse，there’sBoom！AndCollingsheadandGorver。They’vedonebeer，they’vedonesnippets！AfterallTono-Bungay——it’snotlikeaturfcommissionagentoranythinglikethat！。Therehaveofcoursebeensomeverygentlemanlycommissionagents。Itisn’tlikeafoolofascientificmanwhocan’tmakemoney！”

Myunclegrunted；we’ddifferedonthatissuebefore。

Amalignanthumourtookpossessionofme。“Whatwouldtheycallyou？”Ispeculated。“ThevicarwouldlikeDuffield。ToomuchlikeDuffer！Difficultthing，atitle。”Iranmymindovervariouspossibilities。“WhynottakealeaffromasocialisttractIcameuponyesterday。Chapsayswe’reallgettingdelocalised。Beautifulword——delocalised！Whynotbethefirstdelocalisedpeer？Thatgivesyou——Tono-Bungay！ThereisaBungay，youknow。LordTonoofBungay——inbottleseverywhere。Eh？”

Myuncleastonishedmebylosinghistemper。

“Damnit。George，youdon’tseemtoseeI’mserious！You’realwayssneeringatTono-Bungay！Asthoughitwassomesortofswindle。Itwasperfec’lylegitimatetrade，perfec’lylegitimate。Goodvalueandagoodarticle。WhenIcomeuphereandtellyouplansandexchangeidees——yousneeratme。Youdo。Youdon’tsee——it’sabigthing。It’sabigthing。Yougottogetusedtonewcircumstances。Yougottofacewhatliesbeforeus。Yougottodropthattone。”

IX

Myunclewasnotaltogetherswallowedupinbusinessandambition。Hekeptintouchwithmodernthought。Forexample，hewas，Iknow，greatlyswayedbywhathecalled“ThisOvermanidee，Nietzsche——allthatstuff。”

HemingledthosecomfortingsuggestionsofapotentandexceptionalhumanbeingemancipatedfromthepettierlimitationsofintegritywiththeNapoleoniclegend。Itgavehisimaginationaconsiderableoutlet。ThatNapoleoniclegend！TherealmischiefofNapoleon’simmenselydisastrousandaccidentalcareerbeganonlywhenhewasdeadandtheromantictypeofmindwasfreetoelaboratehischaracter。IdobelievethatmyunclewouldhavemadeafarlessegregioussmashiftherehadbeennoNapoleoniclegendtomisguidehim。Hewasinmanywaysbetterandinfinitelykinderthanhiscareer。Butwhenindoubtbetweendecentconductandabaseadvantage，thatcultcameinmoreandmoreinfluentially：“thinkofNapoleon；thinkwhattheinflexibly-wilfulNapoleonwouldhavedonewithsuchscruplesasyours；“thatwastherule，andtheendwasinvariablyanewstepindishonour。

MyunclewasinanunsystematicwayacollectorofNapoleonicre