Bunderdown generally sided with Mr. Blow. Mr. Montgomery Arbuthnot was
recognized as a second mounted attache, though his attendance on the
boulevard was not as constant as that of Mr. Anderson, in consequence,
probably, of the fact that he had not a horse of his own. But there were
others also present. There were Sir Thomas Tresham, with his wife, who
had been sent over to inquire into the iron trade of Belgium. He was a
learned free-trader who could not be got to agree with the old familiar
views of Sir Magnus,--who thought that the more iron that was produced in
Belgium the less would be forthcoming from England. But Sir Thomas knew
better, and as Sir Magnus was quite unable to hold his own with the
political economist, he gave him many dinners and was civil to his wife.
Sir Thomas, no doubt, felt that in doing so Sir Magnus did all that
could be expected from him. Lady Tresham was a quiet little woman, who
could endure to be patronized by Lady Mountjoy without annoyance. And
there was M. Grascour, from the Belgian Foreign Office, who spoke
English so much better than the other gentlemen present that a stranger
might have supposed him to be a school-master whose mission it was to
instruct the English Embassy in their own language.
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