It was also characteristic of the Squire that a man
who had done big things and got himself talked about
should be accepted frankly as an equal, and, outside
the sphere of clanship, even as a superior. A great
musician would have been treated in the same way,
or a great painter, or even a great scholar. For the
Squire belonged to the class of all others the most
prejudiced and at the same time the most easily led»
when its slow-moving imagination is once touched —
a class which believes itself divinely appointed to
rule, but will give political adherence and almost
passionate personal loyalty to men whom in the type
it most dislikes, its members following one another
like sheep when their first instinctive mistrust has
been overcome. Mackenzie was one of the most
talked of men in England at this moment. It was
a matter of congratulation that Jim had caught him
for a two-days' visit, though Jim's catch had involved
no more skill than was needed to answer an unex-
pected note from Mackenzie announcing his arrival
on Friday afternoon. The Clintons had dined at
Mountfield on Friday night, the Grahams and Mac-
kenzie had dined at Kencote on Saturday, and it had
been arranged that Jim and his guest should drive
over this afternoon and stay to dine again.
