ere is a daughter and she ought to have a tidy
little pile. Now do you think it would be worth my while to marry into
a family like that for forty thou.? Clithering ought to run to forty
thou., with the title in sight. I wonder if you would mind sounding
him, Excellency?"

"At present," I said, "I'm arranging about the fate of Belfast, which
is rather an important matter in some ways. But--"

Godfrey did not seem to care much about the fate of Belfast.

"I suppose," he said, "that it really is settled about Marion and that
fellow Power."

"Quite," I said; "they're to be married at once."

"Then I think, Excellency, if you don't mind speaking to old
Clithering--I wouldn't like to commit myself until I was pretty sure
of the money. There's only one daughter, so he can hardly offer less
than forty thou."

I fully intended to tell Godfrey what I thought of him; but words were
not easy to find. I was still searching for a noun to go along with
"damnable" when Clithering came back. He seemed greatly excited.

"The Prime Minister," he blurted out, "is quite ready--He says he has
no objection--In fact it's what we've been trying to do all along. Our
Home Rule Bill was simply an attempt--"

"Do try to be coherent," I said. "What did the Prime Minister say?"

"He said we'd leave Ireland with the greatest pleasure," said
Clithering.

"Is that all?"

Something in the way Clithering spoke made me think the Prime Minister
must have said more than that.

"He added," said Clithering, "that--"

Then he paused nervously.

"Out with it," I said. "It's far better to have no secrets. Godfrey,
take down the Prime Minister's words."

"He added," said Clithering, "that there is only one thing which would
please him better than to see the back of the last Irishman leaving
Westminster, and that is--"

"Go on," I said.

"To hear that at the end of three weeks you'd all torn each other to
pieces, and that there was nothing but a lot of trouser buttons left
to show that Ireland had ever been an inhabited country. Of course he
didn't mean it. If there was the least chance of any internecine
strife our conscience would not allow us--after all we have a duty, as
Englishmen--but there's no risk of bloodshed, is there, Lord Kilmore?"

"Not the slightest. I may take it then that your Government agrees to
our terms. You cart away your army and all your officials, except the
Lord Lieutenant. We want him. He's to give parties for the