In times of need England
had found them good soldiers and ready givers; but poets and scholars
they had never been. Antony affected the latter character. He spoke
several languages, he read science and German philosophy, and he talked
such radical politics to the old gardener, that the man privately
declared himself "fair cap't wi' t' young squire."
Yet after all, his dominant passion was a love of power, and of money
as the means by which to grasp power. Below all his speculations and
affectations this was the underlying thought. True, he was heir of
Hallam, and as the heir had an allowance quite equal to his position.
But he constantly reflected that his father might live many years,
and that in the probable order of things he must wait until he was
a middle-aged man for his inheritance; and for a young man who felt
himself quite competent to turn the axle of the universe, it seemed
a contemptible lot to grind in his own little mill at Hallam. He had
not as yet voiced these thoughts, but they lay in his heart, and
communicated unknown to himself an atmosphere of unrest and
unreliability to all his words and actions.
It was soon evident that there would be little sympathy between Richard
and Antony. Richard Fontaine was calm, dignified, reticent; never
tempted to give his confidence to any one; and averse to receive the
confidences of others; therefore, though he listened with polite
attention to Antony's aspirations and aims, they made very little
impression upon him.
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