tters; late at night CAMERON comes up quite
fresh, desiring to "call attention to the position taken up by the
POSTMASTER-GENERAL with regard to the Electric Call and Boy Messenger
System," just as if he had at the moment made the discovery.

[Illustration: "Wonderful!"]

In course of lecture CAMERON produces sort of pocket-pistol; explains
it's the thing you work the electric call with. You press a button
here, and up comes a tumbler of milk and soda; another button, and you
have a sausage and a hot potato; a third, and your boots are suddenly
pulled off by an unseen agency; a fourth, and you find yourself seated
in a hansom cab, with eighteenpence pressed into your hand to pay
your fare withal; a fifth, and you're awakened at four o'clock in the
morning with an apology. Something, you learn, went wrong with the
machine, and it was the gentleman on the next floor who ought to have
been called at this hour.

GANE, Q.C., with hands folded on knees, sat entranced, listening to
this interesting narrative, and watching the illustrations rapidly
produced by CAMERON, as he touched the various buttons.

"Wonderful!" cried GANE, Q.C. "Never knew anything like it since I
read _Arabian Nights_."

"What's RAIKES' loss is our GANE," says WILFRID LAWSON.

Must think this over during the Recess.

For awhile RAIKES had peace; quite forgotten whilst House, falling
into GANE's attitude, listened to CAMERON's fairy tale.

[Illustration: The Pillary Post.]

"It's only postponed, TOBY," he said, wearily, CAMERON (having
accidentally touched the wrong button) being promptly carried off to
bed in the middle of a sentence; "they'll be at me again to-morrow,
and will begin once more, like giants refreshed, when they come back
from the holidays. It's an old story; the House of Commons must always
have its whipping-boy. Don't know whether you've sat long enough for
Barks to remember AYRTON? A dead set was made against him, and he
was not only driven out of office, but forth from public life. It's
generally the HOME SECRETARY who is fastened on. There was WALPOLE,
chronically reduced to tears. BRUCE was chivied by the cabmen, and
had his hat blocked by the publicans. The blameless HARCOURT didn't
go scot free whilst he was at the Home Office. MATTHEWS has had a long
run, with the hounds after him. Now they've turned aside from him,
and are yelping after me. It's very well for MATTHEWS, but a little
worrying for me. Of course I don't cl