"I was a symbolist in those days. And, excuse me, Sir Felix, it was not
last year, but the year before. Last year we had the surrender of
Cronje at Paardeberg, with the widows dressed up as Boer women."

"Is that so? I thought we had Cronje two years ago, but no doubt you
are right. Now I thought that, with our Primrose fete coming on, and
everybody just now taking such an interest in the Empire--"

"To be sure!" I cried. "'First Aid to the Empire'--it will look well on
the bills."

Sir Felix rubbed his hands together--a trick of his when he is pleased.
"It's an idea, eh?"

"A brilliant one."

"Well, but you haven't heard all." He looked at me almost slyly.
"It occurred to me, that while--er--associating this enthusiasm of ours
with the imperial idea, we might at the same time do a good turn for
ourselves. You think that permissible?"

"Permissible? For what else does an empire exist?"

"Quite so. As I was saying to Lady Williams, only this morning, we must
bring _home_ to less thoughtful persons a sense of its beneficence.
Now it occurs to me: why go on subscribing to these great public Nursing
Funds, in which our mite is a mere drop in the ocean, when by sending up
a nurse from our own town--she would, of course, be a member of the
League--not only should we have the satisfaction of knowing that our