Patagonia was repudiating a loan,
and it was hoped that he might induce a better feeling in the
Patagonian Parliament. There was the Patagonian railway for joining
the Straits to the Cape the details of which he was now studying
with great diligence. And then there was the vital question of
boundary between Patagonia and the Argentine Republic by settling
which, should he be happy enough to succeed in doing so, he would
prevent the horrors of warfare. He endeavoured to fix his mind with
satisfaction on these great objects as he pored over the reports
and papers which had been heaped upon him since. he had accepted
the mission. But there was present to him always a feeling that the
men at the Foreign Office had been glad to get any respectable
diplomate to go to Patagonia, and that his brethren in the
profession had marvelled at his acceptance of such a mission. One
never likes to be thanked over much for doing anything. It creates
a feeling that one has given more than was expedient. He knew that
he must now go to Patagonia, but he repented the alacrity with
which he had acceded to the proposition. Whether he did marry
Arabella Trefoil or whether he did not, there was no adequate
reason for such a banishment. And yet he could not now escape it!
It was on a Monday morning that Larry Twentyman had found himself
unable to go hunting.
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