“I must say, you are taking this all awfully well.” I shrugged. “Can his lordship reconcile the competing theories of evolution proposed by Darwin and Lamarck?” The fellow shook his head in bewilderment. “No, I am certain he could not.” “Then he is by far the least interesting of the Templeton-Vane brothers to me. His opinion therefore matters not at all,” I assured him as I tossed Stoker a quick smile. Stoker had written a paper upon that very subject that was still the finest I had read.
