"Poor young Paragon! that's the pity of it," said Mounser Green. "I
don't suppose he was turned thirty, and he was a useful man,--a
very useful man. That's the worst of it. He was just one of those
men that the country can't afford to lose, and whom it is so very
hard to replace." Mounser Green was always eloquent as to the needs
of the public service, and did really in his heart of hearts care
about his office. "Who is to go to Patagonia, I'm sure I don't
know. Platitude was asking me about it, and I told him that I
couldn't name a man."
"Old Platitude always thinks that the world is coming to an end,"
said Currie. "There are as good fish in the sea as ever were
caught"
"Who is there? Monsoon won't go, even if they ask him. The Paragon
was just the fellow for it. He had his heart in the work. An
immense deal depends on what sort of man we have in Patagonia at
the present moment. If Paraguay gets the better of the Patagonese
all Brazil will be in a ferment, and you know how that kind of
thing spreads among half-caste Spaniards and Portuguese. Nobody can
interfere but the British Minister. When I suggested Morton I knew
I had the right man if he'd only take it"
"And now he has gone and died!" said Hoffmann.
"And now he has gone and died," continued Mounser Green. "'I never
nursed a dear gazelle,' and all the rest of it.
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