subject, and Mr Daubney told them that their duty lay in that
direction. At the first blush of the matter the arrangement took
the form of a gracious tender from themselves to a statesman
called upon to act in very difficult circumstances,--and they
were thanked accordingly by the Duke, with something of real
cordial gratitude. But when the actual adjustment of things was
in hand, the Duke, having but little power of assuming a soft
countenance and using soft words while his heart was bitter, felt
on more than one occasion inclined to withdraw his thanks. He
was astounded not so much by the pretensions as by the unblushing
assertion of these pretensions in reference to places which he
had been innocent enough to think were always bestowed at any
rate without direct application. He had measured himself rightly
when he told the older Duke in one of those anxious conversations
which had been held before the attempt was made, that long as he
had been in office himself he did not know what was the way of
bestowing office. 'Two gentlemen have been here this morning,'
he said one day to the Duke of St Bungay, 'one on the heels of
the other, each assuring me not only that the whole stability of
the enterprise depends on my giving a certain office to him,--
but actually telling me to my face that I had promised it to
him!' The old statesman laughed. 'To be told within the same
half-hour by two men that I had made promises to each of them
inconsistent with each other.'

'Who were the two men?'

'Mr Rattler and Mr Roby.'

'I am assured that they are inseparable since the work has begun.