The young man chose a whisky and soda, and Tallente followed suit,
waving his visitor back into his chair and seating himself opposite.

"Get right into the middle of it, please," he enjoined.

"To begin with, then, can you break your engagement and come and dine
with the Chief?"

"Out of the question, even if it were a royal command," was the firm
reply. "My engagement is unbreakable."

"The Chief will be sorry," Williams said. "So am I. Will you go round
to Downing Street and see him afterwards?"

"I could," Tallente admitted, "but why? I have nothing to say to him.
I can't conceive what he could have to say to me. There are always
pressmen loitering about Downing Street, who would place the wrong
construction on my visit. You saw all the rubbish they wrote because he
and I talked together for a quarter of an hour at Mrs. Van Fosdyke's?"

"I know all about that," Williams assented, "but this time, Tallente,
there's something in it. The Chief quarrelled with you for the sake of
the old gang. Well, he made a bloomer. The old gang aren't worth
six-pence. They're rather a hindrance than help to legislation, and
when they're wanted they're wobbly, as you saw this afternoon.
Lethbridge went into the lobby with you."

Tallente smiled a little grimly.

"He took particularly good care that I should know that."