quality of sound that my knowledge of music is inadequate to
describe. His Zzz-ing inrush of air became less frequent as he ripened,
but returned in moments of excitement. Throughout his career, in spite
of his increasing and at last astounding opulence, his more intimate
habits remained as simple as they had been at Wimblehurst. He would
never avail himself of the services of a valet; at the very climax of
his greatness his trousers were folded by a housemaid and his shoulders
brushed as he left his house or hotel. He became wary about breakfast
as life advanced, and at one time talked much of Dr. Haig and uric acid.
But for other meals he remained reasonably omnivorous. He was something
of a gastronome, and would eat anything he particularly liked in an
audible manner, and perspire upon his forehead. He was a studiously
moderate drinker--except when the spirit of some public banquet or some
great occasion caught him and bore him beyond his wariness--there
he would, as it were, drink inadvertently and become flushed and
talkative--about everything but his business projects.

To make the portrait complete one wants to convey an effect of sudden,
quick bursts of movement like the jumps of a Chinese-cracker to indicate
that his pose whatever it is, has been preceded and will be followed
by a rush. If I were painting him, I should certainly give him for
a background that distressed, uneasy sky that was popular in the
eighteenth century, and at a convenient distance a throbbing motor-car,
very big and contemporary, a secretary hurrying with papers, and an
alert chauffeur.

Such was the figure that created and directed the great property of
Tono-Bungay, and from the successful reconstruction of that company
passed on to a slow crescendo of magnificent creations and promotions
until the whole world of investors marveled. I have already I think,
mentioned how, long before we offered Tono Bungay to the public, we took
over the English agency of certain American specialties. To this was
presently added our exploitation of Moggs' Domestic Soap, and so he took
up the Domestic Convenience Campaign that, coupled with his equatorial
rotundity and a certain resolute convexity in his bearings won my uncle
his Napoleonic title.

II

It illustrates the romantic element in modern commerce that my uncle
met young Moggs at a city dinner--I think it was the Bottle-makers'
Company--when both were some way advanced beyond the initial sobr