"You find an excuse for him?"

"I do."

"What is it, ma'am?"

"Constitutional infirmity, sir."

"May I ask of what nature?"

"You may. Gout."

Mr. Sarrazin thought he understood her at last. "You know the
Lord President," he said.

Mrs. Presty denied it positively. "No, Mr. Sarrazin, I don't get
at it in that way. I merely consult my experience of another
official person of high rank, and apply it to the Lord President.
You know that my first husband was a Cabinet Minister?"

"I have heard you say so, Mrs. Presty, on more than one
occasion."

"Very well. You may also have heard that the late Mr. Norman was
a remarkably well-bred man. In and out of the House of Commons,
courteous almost to a fault. One day I happened to interrupt him
when he was absorbed over an Act of Parliament. Before I could
apologize--I tell you this in the strictest confidence--he threw
the Act of Parliament at my head. Ninety-nine women out of a