of its lines and furnishings, for the reception of Cabinet
Ministers, and the excogitation of thunderbolts for the chancelleries
of Europe! It was currently reported in Fleet Street that Lord
Beaconsfield had been particularly familiar with the interior of that
apartment.

I found the great man in cheerful spirits, and looking fresher than
ordinary mortals, I suppose because his day had only just begun. From
him I learned how, some eight days previously, the _Advocate_ had been
purchased, lock, stock, and barrel (from the family whose members had
inherited possession of it), by Sir William Bartram, M.P., head of the
great engineering and contracting firm which bore his name. It seemed
Sir William had been advised by a very great statesman indeed to
secure the editorial services of Mr. Arncliffe; and he had managed to
do it in forty-eight hours by dint of the exercise of a certain amount
of political and social influence in various quarters, and by entering
into a contract which, for some years, at all events, would make
Arncliffe a tolerably rich man.

A good deal was left to my imagination, of course. It was assumed,
very kindly, that I understood the relations existing between this
nobleman and the other, as touching Sir William's precise influence
and sphere in the world of politics. Naturally, when the Party Whip
heard so and so, he went to Mr. ----, and the result, of course, was
pressure from Lord ----, which settled the matter in five minutes. I
nodded very intelligently at intervals, to show my recognition of the
inevitableness of it all; and so an end was reached of that stage in
our conversation.

In the slight pause which followed Arncliffe touched a spring
releasing the door of a cabinet apparently designed to hold State
Papers of the highest importance, and disclosed some beautiful boxes
of cigars and other creature comforts. It became clear to me, as I
thanked Arncliffe for the match he handed me, that he must have
forgotten the first impressions he had formed of me some years
earlier. Perhaps he had confused me in his mind with some other more
important and affluent person. And yet he did remember some of my
articles. His remarks proved that. I wondered if he could also
remember that they had reached him, some of them, from South
Tottenham. Probably not. And, if he did, his editorial omniscience
could hardly have given him knowledge of any of my slum garrets. On
the other hand, he clearly assumed that