He thought he was,and to a great extent he was,
indifferent to his surroundings. He drifted, as he had done many times before, in
the direction ofthe cow.
Oliver Green was a very young professor, but a very
old young man.
But at the moment when this story begins hehad
other things to think of. He drifted heavily from the room, and the four other men
were left,staring at a riddle. Hewas positive there was nothing exactly like it in
Bloomsbury.
I suppose, replied Eden lightly, it will have to be
DontRationalize but Nationalize.
Joan might know something about it, she said to
herself.
But the farmers daughter was not quite so sure on
the point.
At this point, however, a still more extraordinary
developmenttook place. Theres something in what you say, said Owen Hood, and I
should beinclined to add something to it.
And, let me tell you,his astronomical theory is an
astronomical allegory.
None of them came by post and none of the servants
knewanything about them. I ought to have known I stoodin the presence of a great
English statesman.
Dont you see thats the moral of the whole
thing?
You were told that the earth goes round the sun,and
the moon goes round the earth. But shetold herself convincingly enough that after
all she was justified.
An allegory of us, said Pierce; and, as with many
an allegory,weve acted it without knowing it. And what yousay of me is pretty much
what most people say of you.
Theirs is Socialism, and ours is True
Socialism.
I ought to have known I stoodin the presence of a
great English statesman. Isnt there a proverbor something about a thing happening
once in a blue moon?
Think of people living on a cow and chickens and an
astronomer.
In each oneof the stories it was they who were
fickle, and we who were fixed.
The village does run away when Pierce is out
motoring, remarked Crane. Well, hes not on the face of the earth, said Joan
Hardy.
Of what he wasthinking about he was by no means
fully conscious. I cannot thee whyanyone should object to uthing my name. Of course
hes quite sane,retorted Margery Dale.