He had never sought
municipal honours, considering himself to be somewhat above such
trifles. He was the first purely local man to be knighted in the Five
Towns. Even before the bestowal of the knighthood his sense of humour
had been deficient, and immediately afterwards it had vanished entirely.
Indeed, he did not miss it. He divided the population of the kingdom
into two classes--the titled and the untitled. With Sir Jee, either you
were titled, or you weren't. He lumped all the untitled together; and to
be just to his logical faculty, he lumped all the titled together. There
were various titles--Sir Jee admitted that--but a title was a title, and
therefore all titles were practically equal. The Duke of Norfolk was one
titled individual, and Sir Jee was another. The fine difference between
them might be perceptible to the titled, and might properly be
recognised by the titled when the titled were among themselves, but for
the untitled such a difference ought not to exist and could not exist.
Thus for Sir Jee there were two titled beings in the group--the Countess
and himself. The Countess and himself formed one caste in the group, and
the rest another caste.
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