They may be, as a
whole, but there are exceptions all round, which we are inclined to
overlook because of the foregone conclusion. It has struck me lately
that there are some of us--well, not up to the mark."
"Has this revelation come to you by force of contrast?" she asked.
"Haven't you been out with the Rajah?"
He looked at her with the pleasure of a man who has been saved the
bother of going into explanatory details.
"Yes, I have," he admitted, "and you are not far wrong when you talk
about the force of contrast. You know what I thought of the Rajah.
There are any amount of good-looking native princes with nice surface
manners--that sort of thing wouldn't impress me. But this man has more
than good looks and manners. He is a born leader. You should have seen
him this afternoon. There wasn't a thing he overlooked or forgot.
Every detail was at his fingers' ends, and he has a fire, an energy,
an idealistic belief in himself and in the whole world which fairly
sweeps you off your feet. It did me. I believe it did the Colonel, and
I know it did the natives. The dust wasn't low enough for them. And it
wasn't face worship, either. It came straight from the heart; I could
see that they were ready to die for him on the spot, at his mere
word."
"What a power!" Beatrice murmured. She had stopped turning over the
patterns and was leaning back in her chair, her eyes fixed
thoughtfully in front of her.
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