Psmith in the City

by P. G. Wodehouse

[Dedication]to Leslie Havergal Bradshaw

Contents

1. Mr Bickersdyke Walks behind the Bowler's Arm

2. Mike Hears Bad News

3. The New Era Begins

4. First Steps in a Business Career

5. The Other Man

6. Psmith Explains

7. Going into Winter Quarters

8. The Friendly Native

9. The Haunting of Mr Bickersdyke

10. Mr Bickersdyke Addresses His Constituents

11. Misunderstood

12. In a Nutshell

13. Mike is Moved On

14. Mr Waller Appears in a New Light

15. Stirring Times on the Common

16. Further Developments

17. Sunday Supper

18. Psmith Makes a Discovery

19. The Illness of Edward

20. Concerning a Cheque

21. Psmith Makes Inquiries

22. And Takes Steps

23. Mr Bickersdyke Makes a Concession

24. The Spirit of Unrest

25. At the Telephone

26. Breaking the News

27. At Lord's

28. Psmith Arranges His Future

29. And Mike's

30. The Last Sad Farewells

1. Mr Bickersdyke Walks behind the Bowler's Arm

Considering what a prominent figure Mr John Bickersdyke was to be inMike Jackson's life, it was only appropriate that he should make adramatic entry into it. This he did by walking behind the bowler's armwhen Mike had scored ninety-eight, causing him thereby to be cleanbowled by a long-hop. 

It was the last day of the Ilsworth cricket week, and the house teamwere struggling hard on a damaged wicket. During the first two matchesof the week all had been well. Warm sunshine, true wickets, tea in theshade of the trees. But on the Thursday night, as the team champedtheir dinner contentedly after defeating the Incogniti by two wickets, a pattering of rain made itself heard upon the windows. By bedtime ithad settled to a steady downpour. On Friday morning, when the team ofthe local regiment arrived in their brake, the sun was shining oncemore in a watery, melancholy way, but play was not possible beforelunch. After lunch the bowlers were in their element. The regiment, winning the toss, put together a hundred and thirty, due principally toa last wicket stand between two enormous corporals, who swiped ateverything and had luck enough for two whole teams. The house teamfollowed with seventy-eight, of which Psmith, by his usual golfmethods, claimed thirty. Mike, who had gone in first as the star bat ofthe side, had been run out with great promptitude off the first ball ofthe innings, which his partner had hit in the immediate neighbourhoodof point. At close of play the regiment had made five without loss. This, on the Saturday morning, helped by another shower of rain whichmade the wicket easier for the moment, they had increased to a hundredand forty-eight, leaving the house just two hundred to make on a pitchwhich looked as if it were made of linseed. 

It was during this week that Mike had first made the acquaintance ofPsmith's family. Mr Smith had moved from Shropshire, and taken IlsworthHall in a neighbouring county. This he had done, as far as could beascertained, simply because he had a poor opinion of Shropshirecricket. And just at the moment cricket happened to be the pivot of hislife. 

'My father, ' Psmith had confided to Mike, meeting him at the station inthe family motor on the Monday, 'is a man of vast but volatile brain. He has not that calm, dispassionate outlook on life which marks yourtrue philosopher, such as myself. I--'

'I say, ' interrupted Mike, eyeing Psmith's movements with apprehension, 'you aren't going to drive, are you?'

'Who else? As I was saying, I am like some contented spectator of aPageant. My pater wants to jump in and stage-manage. He is a man ofhobbies. He never has more than one at a time, and he never has thatlong. But while he has it, it's all there. When I left the house thismorning he was all for cricket. But by the time we get to the ground hemay have chucked cricket and taken up the Territorial Army. Don't besurprised if you find the wicket being dug up into trenches, when wearrive, and the pro. Moving in echelon towards the pavilion. No, ' headded, as the car turned into the drive, and they caught a glimpse ofwhite flannels and blazers in the distance, and heard the sound of batmeeting ball, 'cricket seems still to be topping the bill. Come along, and I'll show you your room. It's next to mine, so that, if brooding onLife in the still hours of the night, I hit on any great truth, I shallpop in and discuss it with you. '

While Mike was changing, Psmith sat on his bed, and continued todiscourse. 

'I suppose you're going to the 'Varsity?' he said. 

'Rather, ' said Mike, lacing his boots. 'You are, of course? Cambridge, I hope. I'm going to King's. '

'Between ourselves, ' confided Psmith, 'I'm dashed if I know what'sgoing to happen to me. I am the thingummy of what's-its-name. '

'You look it, ' said Mike, brushing his hair. 

'Don't stand there cracking the glass, ' said Psmith. 'I tell you I ampractically a human three-shies-a-penny ball. My father is poising melightly in his hand, preparatory to flinging me at one of the milkycocos of Life. Which one he'll aim at I don't know. The least thingfills him with a whirl of new views as to my future. Last week we wereout shooting together, and he said that the life of the gentleman-farmerwas the most manly and independent on earth, and that he had a goodmind to start me on that. I pointed out that lack of early traininghad rendered me unable to distinguish between a threshing-machine anda mangel-wurzel, so he chucked that. He has now worked round toCommerce. It seems that a blighter of the name of Bickersdyke iscoming here for the week-end next Saturday. As far as I can saywithout searching the Newgate Calendar, the man Bickersdyke's careerseems to have been as follows. He was at school with my pater, wentinto the City, raked in a certain amount of doubloons--probablydishonestly--and is now a sort of Captain of Industry, manager of somebank or other, and about to stand for Parliament. The result of theseexcesses is that my pater's imagination has been fired, and at time ofgoing to press he wants me to imitate Comrade Bickersdyke. However, there's plenty of time. That's one comfort. He's certain to change hismind again. Ready? Then suppose we filter forth into the arena?'

Out on the field Mike was introduced to the man of hobbies. Mr Smith, senior, was a long, earnest-looking man who might have been Psmith in agrey wig but for his obvious energy. He was as wholly on the move asPsmith was wholly statuesque. Where Psmith stood like some dignifiedpiece of sculpture, musing on deep questions with a glassy eye, hisfather would be trying to be in four places at once. When Psmithpresented Mike to him, he shook hands warmly with him and started asentence, but broke off in the middle of both performances to dashwildly in the direction of the pavilion in an endeavour to catch animpossible catch some thirty yards away. The impetus so gained carriedhim on towards Bagley, the Ilsworth Hall ground-man, with whom a momentlater he was carrying on an animated discussion as to whether he had orhad not seen a dandelion on the field that morning. Two minutesafterwards he had skimmed away again. Mike, as he watched him, began toappreciate Psmith's reasons for feeling some doubt as to what would behis future walk in life. 

At lunch that day Mike sat next to Mr Smith, and improved hisacquaintance with him; and by the end of the week they were onexcellent terms. Psmith's father had Psmith's gift of getting on wellwith people. 

On this Saturday, as Mike buckled on his pads, Mr Smith bounded up, full of advice and encouragement. 

'My boy, ' he said, 'we rely on you. These others'--he indicated with adisparaging wave of the hand the rest of the team, who were visiblethrough the window of the changing-room--'are all very well. Decentclub bats. Good for a few on a billiard-table. But you're our hope on awicket like this. I have studied cricket all my life'--till that summerit is improbable that Mr Smith had ever handled a bat--'and I know afirst-class batsman when I see one. I've seen your brothers play. Pooh, you're better than any of them. That century of yours against the GreenJackets was a wonderful innings, wonderful. Now look here, my boy. Iwant you to be careful. We've a lot of runs to make, so we mustn't takeany risks. Hit plenty of boundaries, of course, but be careful. Careful. Dash it, there's a youngster trying to climb up the elm. He'llbreak his neck. It's young Giles, my keeper's boy. Hi! Hi, there!'

He scudded out to avert the tragedy, leaving Mike to digest his expertadvice on the art of batting on bad wickets. 

Possibly it was the excellence of this advice which induced Mike toplay what was, to date, the best innings of his life. There are momentswhen the batsman feels an almost super-human fitness. This came to Mikenow. The sun had begun to shine strongly. It made the wicket moredifficult, but it added a cheerful touch to the scene. Mike felt calmand masterful. The bowling had no terrors for him. He scored nine offhis first over and seven off his second, half-way through which he losthis partner. He was to undergo a similar bereavement several times thatafternoon, and at frequent intervals. However simple the bowling mightseem to him, it had enough sting in it to worry the rest of the teamconsiderably. Batsmen came and went at the other end with such rapiditythat it seemed hardly worth while their troubling to come in at all. Every now and then one would give promise of better things by liftingthe slow bowler into the pavilion or over the boundary, but it alwayshappened that a similar stroke, a few balls later, ended in an easycatch. At five o'clock the Ilsworth score was eighty-one for sevenwickets, last man nought, Mike not out fifty-nine. As most of the houseteam, including Mike, were dispersing to their homes or were due forvisits at other houses that night, stumps were to be drawn at six. Itwas obvious that they could not hope to win. Number nine on the list, who was Bagley, the ground-man, went in with instructions to play for adraw, and minute advice from Mr Smith as to how he was to do it. Mikehad now begun to score rapidly, and it was not to be expected that hecould change his game; but Bagley, a dried-up little man of the typewhich bowls for five hours on a hot August day without exhibiting anysymptoms of fatigue, put a much-bound bat stolidly in front of everyball he received; and the Hall's prospects of saving the game grewbrighter. 

At a quarter to six the professional left, caught at very silly pointfor eight. The score was a hundred and fifteen, of which Mike had madeeighty-five. 

A lengthy young man with yellow hair, who had done some good fastbowling for the Hall during the week, was the next man in. In previousmatches he had hit furiously at everything, and against the GreenJackets had knocked up forty in twenty minutes while Mike was puttingthe finishing touches to his century. Now, however, with his host'swarning ringing in his ears, he adopted the unspectacular, or Bagley, style of play. His manner of dealing with the ball was that of oneplaying croquet. He patted it gingerly back to the bowler when it wasstraight, and left it icily alone when it was off the wicket. Mike, still in the brilliant vein, clumped a half-volley past point to theboundary, and with highly scientific late cuts and glides brought hisscore to ninety-eight. With Mike's score at this, the total at ahundred and thirty, and the hands of the clock at five minutes to six, the yellow-haired croquet exponent fell, as Bagley had fallen, a victimto silly point, the ball being the last of the over. 

Mr Smith, who always went in last for his side, and who so far had notreceived a single ball during the week, was down the pavilion steps andhalf-way to the wicket before the retiring batsman had taken half adozen steps. 

'Last over, ' said the wicket-keeper to Mike. 'Any idea how many you'vegot? You must be near your century, I should think. '

'Ninety-eight, ' said Mike. He always counted his runs. 

'By Jove, as near as that? This is something like a finish. '

Mike left the first ball alone, and the second. They were too wide ofthe off-stump to be hit at safely. Then he felt a thrill as the thirdball left the bowler's hand. It was a long-hop. He faced square to pullit. 

And at that moment Mr John Bickersdyke walked into his life across thebowling-screen. 

He crossed the bowler's arm just before the ball pitched. Mike lostsight of it for a fraction of a second, and hit wildly. The next momenthis leg stump was askew; and the Hall had lost the match. 

'I'm sorry, ' he said to Mr Smith. 'Some silly idiot walked across thescreen just as the ball was bowled. '

'What!' shouted Mr Smith. 'Who was the fool who walked behind thebowler's arm?' he yelled appealingly to Space. 

'Here he comes, whoever he is, ' said Mike. 

A short, stout man in a straw hat and a flannel suit was walkingtowards them. As he came nearer Mike saw that he had a hard, thin-lippedmouth, half-hidden by a rather ragged moustache, and that behind a pairof gold spectacles were two pale and slightly protruding eyes, which, like his mouth, looked hard. 

'How are you, Smith, ' he said. 

'Hullo, Bickersdyke. ' There was a slight internal struggle, and then MrSmith ceased to be the cricketer and became the host. He chattedamiably to the new-comer. 

'You lost the game, I suppose, ' said Mr Bickersdyke. 

The cricketer in Mr Smith came to the top again, blended now, however, with the host. He was annoyed, but restrained in his annoyance. 

'I say, Bickersdyke, you know, my dear fellow, ' he said complainingly, 'you shouldn't have walked across the screen. You put Jackson off, andmade him get bowled. '

'The screen?'

'That curious white object, ' said Mike. 'It is not put up merely as anornament. There's a sort of rough idea of giving the batsman a chanceof seeing the ball, as well. It's a great help to him when people comecharging across it just as the bowler bowls. '

Mr Bickersdyke turned a slightly deeper shade of purple, and was aboutto reply, when what sporting reporters call 'the veritable ovation'began. 

Quite a large crowd had been watching the game, and they expressedtheir approval of Mike's performance. 

There is only one thing for a batsman to do on these occasions. Mikeran into the pavilion, leaving Mr Bickersdyke standing. 

2. Mike Hears Bad News

It seemed to Mike, when he got home, that there was a touch of gloom inthe air. His sisters were as glad to see him as ever. There was a gooddeal of rejoicing going on among the female Jacksons because Joe hadscored his first double century in first-class cricket. Doublecenturies are too common, nowadays, for the papers to take much noticeof them; but, still, it is not everybody who can make them, and theoccasion was one to be marked. Mike had read the news in the eveningpaper in the train, and had sent his brother a wire from the station, congratulating him. He had wondered whether he himself would everachieve the feat in first-class cricket. He did not see why he shouldnot. He looked forward through a long vista of years of county cricket. He had a birth qualification for the county in which Mr Smith hadsettled, and he had played for it once already at the beginning of theholidays. His _debut_ had not been sensational, but it had beenpromising. The fact that two members of the team had made centuries, and a third seventy odd, had rather eclipsed his own twenty-nine notout; but it had been a faultless innings, and nearly all the papers hadsaid that here was yet another Jackson, evidently well up to the familystandard, who was bound to do big things in the future. 

The touch of gloom was contributed by his brother Bob to a certainextent, and by his father more noticeably. Bob looked slightlythoughtful. Mr Jackson seemed thoroughly worried. 

Mike approached Bob on the subject in the billiard-room after dinner. Bob was practising cannons in rather a listless way. 

'What's up, Bob?' asked Mike. 

Bob laid down his cue. 

'I'm hanged if I know, ' said Bob. 'Something seems to be. Father'sworried about something. '

'He looked as if he'd got the hump rather at dinner. '

'I only got here this afternoon, about three hours before you did. Ihad a bit of a talk with him before dinner. I can't make out what's up. He seemed awfully keen on my finding something to do now I've come downfrom Oxford. Wanted to know whether I couldn't get a tutoring job or amastership at some school next term. I said I'd have a shot. I don'tsee what all the hurry's about, though. I was hoping he'd give me a bitof travelling on the Continent somewhere before I started in. '

'Rough luck, ' said Mike. 'I wonder why it is. Jolly good about Joe, wasn't it? Let's have fifty up, shall we?'

Bob's remarks had given Mike no hint of impending disaster. It seemedstrange, of course, that his father, who had always been so easy-going, should have developed a hustling Get On or Get Out spirit, and beurging Bob to Do It Now; but it never occurred to him that there couldbe any serious reason for it. After all, fellows had to start workingsome time or other. Probably his father had merely pointed this out toBob, and Bob had made too much of it. 

Half-way through the game Mr Jackson entered the room, and stoodwatching in silence. 

'Want a game, father?' asked Mike. 

'No, thanks, Mike. What is it? A hundred up?'

'Fifty. '

'Oh, then you'll be finished in a moment. When you are, I wish you'djust look into the study for a moment, Mike. I want to have a talk withyou. '

'Rum, ' said Mike, as the door closed. 'I wonder what's up?'

For a wonder his conscience was free. It was not as if a bad school-reportmight have arrived in his absence. His Sedleigh report had come atthe beginning of the holidays, and had been, on the whole, fairlydecent--nothing startling either way. Mr Downing, perhaps throughremorse at having harried Mike to such an extent during the Sammyepisode, had exercised a studied moderation in his remarks. He had letMike down far more easily than he really deserved. So it could not be areport that was worrying Mr Jackson. And there was nothing else on hisconscience. 

Bob made a break of sixteen, and ran out. Mike replaced his cue, andwalked to the study. 

His father was sitting at the table. Except for the very important factthat this time he felt that he could plead Not Guilty on every possiblecharge, Mike was struck by the resemblance in the general arrangementof the scene to that painful ten minutes at the end of the previousholidays, when his father had announced his intention of taking himaway from Wrykyn and sending him to Sedleigh. The resemblance wasincreased by the fact that, as Mike entered, Mr Jackson was kicking atthe waste-paper basket--a thing which with him was an infallible signof mental unrest. 

'Sit down, Mike, ' said Mr Jackson. 'How did you get on during theweek?'

'Topping. Only once out under double figures. And then I was run out. Got a century against the Green Jackets, seventy-one against theIncogs, and today I made ninety-eight on a beast of a wicket, and onlygot out because some silly goat of a chap--'

He broke off. Mr Jackson did not seem to be attending. There was asilence. Then Mr Jackson spoke with an obvious effort. 

'Look here, Mike, we've always understood one another, haven't we?'

'Of course we have. '

'You know I wouldn't do anything to prevent you having a good time, ifI could help it. I took you away from Wrykyn, I know, but that was aspecial case. It was necessary. But I understand perfectly how keen youare to go to Cambridge, and I wouldn't stand in the way for a minute, if I could help it. '

Mike looked at him blankly. This could only mean one thing. He was notto go to the 'Varsity. But why? What had happened? When he had left forthe Smith's cricket week, his name had been down for King's, and thewhole thing settled. What could have happened since then?

'But I can't help it, ' continued Mr Jackson. 

'Aren't I going up to Cambridge, father?' stammered Mike. 

'I'm afraid not, Mike. I'd manage it if I possibly could. I'm just asanxious to see you get your Blue as you are to get it. But it's kinderto be quite frank. I can't afford to send you to Cambridge. I won't gointo details which you would not understand; but I've lost a very largesum of money since I saw you last. So large that we shall have toeconomize in every way. I shall let this house and take a much smallerone. And you and Bob, I'm afraid, will have to start earning yourliving. I know it's a terrible disappointment to you, old chap. '

'Oh, that's all right, ' said Mike thickly. There seemed to be somethingsticking in his throat, preventing him from speaking. 

'If there was any possible way--'

'No, it's all right, father, really. I don't mind a bit. It's awfullyrough luck on you losing all that. '

There was another silence. The clock ticked away energetically on themantelpiece, as if glad to make itself heard at last. Outside, aplaintive snuffle made itself heard. John, the bull-dog, Mike'sinseparable companion, who had followed him to the study, was gettingtired of waiting on the mat. Mike got up and opened the door. Johnlumbered in. 

The movement broke the tension. 

'Thanks, Mike, ' said Mr Jackson, as Mike started to leave the room, 'you're a sportsman. '

3. The New Era Begins

Details of what were in store for him were given to Mike next morning. During his absence at Ilsworth a vacancy had been got for him in thatflourishing institution, the New Asiatic Bank; and he was to enter uponhis duties, whatever they might be, on the Tuesday of the followingweek. It was short notice, but banks have a habit of swallowing theirvictims rather abruptly. Mike remembered the case of Wyatt, who had hadjust about the same amount of time in which to get used to the prospectof Commerce. 

On the Monday morning a letter arrived from Psmith. Psmith was stillperturbed. 'Commerce, ' he wrote, 'continues to boom. My pater referredto Comrade Bickersdyke last night as a Merchant Prince. Comrade B. AndI do not get on well together. Purely for his own good, I drew himaside yesterday and explained to him at great length the frightfulnessof walking across the bowling-screen. He seemed restive, but I wasfirm. We parted rather with the Distant Stare than the Friendly Smile. But I shall persevere. In many ways the casual observer would say thathe was hopeless. He is a poor performer at Bridge, as I was compelledto hint to him on Saturday night. His eyes have no animated sparkle ofintelligence. And the cut of his clothes jars my sensitive soul to itsfoundations. I don't wish to speak ill of a man behind his back, but Imust confide in you, as my Boyhood's Friend, that he wore a made-up tieat dinner. But no more of a painful subject. I am working away at himwith a brave smile. Sometimes I think that I am succeeding. Then heseems to slip back again. However, ' concluded the letter, ending on anoptimistic note, 'I think that I shall make a man of him yet--someday. '

Mike re-read this letter in the train that took him to London. By thistime Psmith would know that his was not the only case in which Commercewas booming. Mike had written to him by return, telling him of thedisaster which had befallen the house of Jackson. Mike wished he couldhave told him in person, for Psmith had a way of treating unpleasantsituations as if he were merely playing at them for his own amusement. Psmith's attitude towards the slings and arrows of outrageous Fortunewas to regard them with a bland smile, as if they were part of anentertainment got up for his express benefit. 

Arriving at Paddington, Mike stood on the platform, waiting for his boxto emerge from the luggage-van, with mixed feelings of gloom andexcitement. The gloom was in the larger quantities, perhaps, but theexcitement was there, too. It was the first time in his life that hehad been entirely dependent on himself. He had crossed the Rubicon. Theoccasion was too serious for him to feel the same helplessly furiousfeeling with which he had embarked on life at Sedleigh. It was possibleto look on Sedleigh with quite a personal enmity. London was too big tobe angry with. It took no notice of him. It did not care whether he wasglad to be there or sorry, and there was no means of making it care. That is the peculiarity of London. There is a sort of coldunfriendliness about it. A city like New York makes the new arrivalfeel at home in half an hour; but London is a specialist in what Psmithin his letter had called the Distant Stare. You have to buy London'sgood-will. 

Mike drove across the Park to Victoria, feeling very empty and small. He had settled on Dulwich as the spot to get lodgings, partly because, knowing nothing about London, he was under the impression that roomsanywhere inside the four-mile radius were very expensive, butprincipally because there was a school at Dulwich, and it would be acomfort being near a school. He might get a game of fives theresometimes, he thought, on a Saturday afternoon, and, in the summer, occasional cricket. 

Wandering at a venture up the asphalt passage which leads from Dulwichstation in the direction of the College, he came out into Acacia Road. There is something about Acacia Road which inevitably suggestsfurnished apartments. A child could tell at a glance that it wasbristling with bed-sitting rooms. 

Mike knocked at the first door over which a card hung. 

There is probably no more depressing experience in the world than theprocess of engaging furnished apartments. Those who let furnishedapartments seem to take no joy in the act. Like Pooh-Bah, they do it, but it revolts them. 

In answer to Mike's knock, a female person opened the door. Inappearance she resembled a pantomime 'dame', inclining towards therestrained melancholy of Mr Wilkie Bard rather than the joyous abandonof Mr George Robey. Her voice she had modelled on the gramophone. Hermost recent occupation seemed to have been something with a good dealof yellow soap in it. As a matter of fact--there are no secrets betweenour readers and ourselves--she had been washing a shirt. A usefuloccupation, and an honourable, but one that tends to produce a certainhomeliness in the appearance. 

She wiped a pair of steaming hands on her apron, and regarded Mike withan eye which would have been markedly expressionless in a boiled fish. 

'Was there anything?' she asked. 

Mike felt that he was in for it now. He had not sufficient ease ofmanner to back gracefully away and disappear, so he said that there wassomething. In point of fact, he wanted a bed-sitting room. 

'Orkup stays, ' said the pantomime dame. Which Mike interpreted to mean, would he walk upstairs?

The procession moved up a dark flight of stairs until it came to adoor. The pantomime dame opened this, and shuffled through. Mike stoodin the doorway, and looked in. 

It was a repulsive room. One of those characterless rooms which areonly found in furnished apartments. To Mike, used to the comforts ofhis bedroom at home and the cheerful simplicity of a school dormitory, it seemed about the most dismal spot he had ever struck. A sort ofSargasso Sea among bedrooms. 

He looked round in silence. Then he said: 'Yes. ' There did not seemmuch else to say. 

'It's a nice room, ' said the pantomime dame. Which was a black lie. Itwas not a nice room. It never had been a nice room. And it did not seemat all probable that it ever would be a nice room. But it looked cheap. That was the great thing. Nobody could have the assurance to chargemuch for a room like that. A landlady with a conscience might even havegone to the length of paying people some small sum by way ofcompensation to them for sleeping in it. 

'About what?' queried Mike. Cheapness was the great consideration. Heunderstood that his salary at the bank would be about four pounds ten amonth, to begin with, and his father was allowing him five pounds amonth. One does not do things _en prince_ on a hundred andfourteen pounds a year. 

The pantomime dame became slightly more animated. Prefacing her remarksby a repetition of her statement that it was a nice room, she went onto say that she could 'do' it at seven and sixpence per week 'forhim'--giving him to understand, presumably, that, if the Shah of Persiaor Mr Carnegie ever applied for a night's rest, they would sigh in vainfor such easy terms. And that included lights. Coals were to be lookedon as an extra. 'Sixpence a scuttle. ' Attendance was thrown in. 

Having stated these terms, she dribbled a piece of fluff under the bed, after the manner of a professional Association footballer, and relapsedinto her former moody silence. 

Mike said he thought that would be all right. The pantomime dameexhibited no pleasure. 

''Bout meals?' she said. 'You'll be wanting breakfast. Bacon, aigs, an' that, I suppose?'

Mike said he supposed so. 

'That'll be extra, ' she said. 'And dinner? A chop, or a nice steak?'

Mike bowed before this original flight of fancy. A chop or a nice steakseemed to be about what he might want. 

'That'll be extra, ' said the pantomime dame in her best Wilkie Bardmanner. 

Mike said yes, he supposed so. After which, having put down seven andsixpence, one week's rent in advance, he was presented with a grubbyreceipt and an enormous latchkey, and the _seance_ was at an end. Mike wandered out of the house. A few steps took him to the railingsthat bounded the College grounds. It was late August, and the eveningshad begun to close in. The cricket-field looked very cool and spaciousin the dim light, with the school buildings looming vague and shadowythrough the slight mist. The little gate by the railway bridge was notlocked. He went in, and walked slowly across the turf towards the bigclump of trees which marked the division between the cricket andfootball fields. It was all very pleasant and soothing after thepantomime dame and her stuffy bed-sitting room. He sat down on a benchbeside the second eleven telegraph-board, and looked across the groundat the pavilion. For the first time that day he began to feel reallyhome-sick. Up till now the excitement of a strange venture had bornehim up; but the cricket-field and the pavilion reminded him so sharplyof Wrykyn. They brought home to him with a cutting distinctness, theabsolute finality of his break with the old order of things. Summerswould come and go, matches would be played on this ground with all theglory of big scores and keen finishes; but he was done. 'He was a jollygood bat at school. Top of the Wrykyn averages two years. But didn't doanything after he left. Went into the city or something. ' That was whatthey would say of him, if they didn't quite forget him. 

The clock on the tower over the senior block chimed quarter afterquarter, but Mike sat on, thinking. It was quite late when he got up, and began to walk back to Acacia Road. He felt cold and stiff and verymiserable. 

4. First Steps in a Business Career

The City received Mike with the same aloofness with which the morewestern portion of London had welcomed him on the previous day. Nobodyseemed to look at him. He was permitted to alight at St Paul's and makehis way up Queen Victoria Street without any demonstration. He followedthe human stream till he reached the Mansion House, and eventuallyfound himself at the massive building of the New Asiatic Bank, Limited. 

The difficulty now was to know how to make an effective entrance. Therewas the bank, and here was he. How had he better set about breaking itto the authorities that he had positively arrived and was ready tostart earning his four pound ten _per mensem_? Inside, the bankseemed to be in a state of some confusion. Men were moving about in anapparently irresolute manner. Nobody seemed actually to be working. Asa matter of fact, the business of a bank does not start very early inthe morning. Mike had arrived before things had really begun to move. As he stood near the doorway, one or two panting figures rushed up thesteps, and flung themselves at a large book which stood on the counternear the door. Mike was to come to know this book well. In it, if youwere an _employe_ of the New Asiatic Bank, you had to inscribeyour name every morning. It was removed at ten sharp to theaccountant's room, and if you reached the bank a certain number oftimes in the year too late to sign, bang went your bonus. 

After a while things began to settle down. The stir and confusiongradually ceased. All down the length of the bank, figures could beseen, seated on stools and writing hieroglyphics in large letters. Abenevolent-looking man, with spectacles and a straggling grey beard, crossed the gangway close to where Mike was standing. Mike put thething to him, as man to man. 

'Could you tell me, ' he said, 'what I'm supposed to do? I've justjoined the bank. ' The benevolent man stopped, and looked at him with apair of mild blue eyes. 'I think, perhaps, that your best plan would beto see the manager, ' he said. 'Yes, I should certainly do that. He willtell you what work you have to do. If you will permit me, I will showyou the way. '

'It's awfully good of you, ' said Mike. He felt very grateful. After hisexperience of London, it was a pleasant change to find someone whoreally seemed to care what happened to him. His heart warmed to thebenevolent man. 

'It feels strange to you, perhaps, at first, Mr--'

'Jackson. '

'Mr Jackson. My name is Waller. I have been in the City some time, butI can still recall my first day. But one shakes down. One shakes downquite quickly. Here is the manager's room. If you go in, he will tellyou what to do. '

'Thanks awfully, ' said Mike. 

'Not at all. ' He ambled off on the quest which Mike had interrupted, turning, as he went, to bestow a mild smile of encouragement on the newarrival. There was something about Mr Waller which reminded Mikepleasantly of the White Knight in 'Alice through the Looking-glass. '

Mike knocked at the managerial door, and went in. 

Two men were sitting at the table. The one facing the door was writingwhen Mike went in. He continued to write all the time he was in theroom. Conversation between other people in his presence had apparentlyno interest for him, nor was it able to disturb him in any way. 

The other man was talking into a telephone. Mike waited till he hadfinished. Then he coughed. The man turned round. Mike had thought, ashe looked at his back and heard his voice, that something about hisappearance or his way of speaking was familiar. He was right. The manin the chair was Mr Bickersdyke, the cross-screen pedestrian. 

These reunions are very awkward. Mike was frankly unequal to thesituation. Psmith, in his place, would have opened the conversation, and relaxed the tension with some remark on the weather or the state ofthe crops. Mike merely stood wrapped in silence, as in a garment. 

That the recognition was mutual was evident from Mr Bickersdyke's look. But apart from this, he gave no sign of having already had the pleasureof making Mike's acquaintance. He merely stared at him as if he were ablot on the arrangement of the furniture, and said, 'Well?'

The most difficult parts to play in real life as well as on the stageare those in which no 'business' is arranged for the performer. It wasall very well for Mr Bickersdyke. He had been 'discovered sitting'. ButMike had had to enter, and he wished now that there was something hecould do instead of merely standing and speaking. 

'I've come, ' was the best speech he could think of. It was not a goodspeech. It was too sinister. He felt that even as he said it. It wasthe sort of thing Mephistopheles would have said to Faust by way ofopening conversation. And he was not sure, either, whether he ought notto have added, 'Sir. '

Apparently such subtleties of address were not necessary, for MrBickersdyke did not start up and shout, 'This language to me!' oranything of that kind. He merely said, 'Oh! And who are you?'

'Jackson, ' said Mike. It was irritating, this assumption on MrBickersdyke's part that they had never met before. 

'Jackson? Ah, yes. You have joined the staff?'

Mike rather liked this way of putting it. It lent a certain dignity tothe proceedings, making him feel like some important person for whoseservices there had been strenuous competition. He seemed to see thebank's directors being reassured by the chairman. ('I am happy to say, gentlemen, that our profits for the past year are 3, 000, 006-2-2 1/2pounds--(cheers)--and'--impressively--'that we have finally succeededin inducing Mr Mike Jackson--(sensation)--to--er--in fact, to join thestaff!' (Frantic cheers, in which the chairman joined. )

'Yes, ' he said. 

Mr Bickersdyke pressed a bell on the table beside him, and picking up apen, began to write. Of Mike he took no further notice, leaving thattoy of Fate standing stranded in the middle of the room. 

After a few moments one of the men in fancy dress, whom Mike had seenhanging about the gangway, and whom he afterwards found to bemessengers, appeared. Mr Bickersdyke looked up. 

'Ask Mr Bannister to step this way, ' he said. 

The messenger disappeared, and presently the door opened again to admita shock-headed youth with paper cuff-protectors round his wrists. 

'This is Mr Jackson, a new member of the staff. He will take your placein the postage department. You will go into the cash department, underMr Waller. Kindly show him what he has to do. '

Mike followed Mr Bannister out. On the other side of the door theshock-headed one became communicative. 

'Whew!' he said, mopping his brow. 'That's the sort of thing whichgives me the pip. When William came and said old Bick wanted to see me, I said to him, "William, my boy, my number is up. This is the sack. " Imade certain that Rossiter had run me in for something. He's beenwaiting for a chance to do it for weeks, only I've been as good as goldand haven't given it him. I pity you going into the postage. There'sone thing, though. If you can stick it for about a month, you'll getthrough all right. Men are always leaving for the East, and then youget shunted on into another department, and the next new man goes intothe postage. That's the best of this place. It's not like one of thosebanks where you stay in London all your life. You only have three yearshere, and then you get your orders, and go to one of the branches inthe East, where you're the dickens of a big pot straight away, with abig screw and a dozen native Johnnies under you. Bit of all right, that. I shan't get my orders for another two and a half years and more, worse luck. Still, it's something to look forward to. '

'Who's Rossiter?' asked Mike. 

'The head of the postage department. Fussy little brute. Won't leaveyou alone. Always trying to catch you on the hop. There's one thing, though. The work in the postage is pretty simple. You can't make manymistakes, if you're careful. It's mostly entering letters and stampingthem. '

They turned in at the door in the counter, and arrived at a desk whichran parallel to the gangway. There was a high rack running along it, onwhich were several ledgers. Tall, green-shaded electric lamps gave itrather a cosy look. 

As they reached the desk, a little man with short, black whiskersbuzzed out from behind a glass screen, where there was another desk. 

'Where have you been, Bannister, where have you been? You must notleave your work in this way. There are several letters waiting to beentered. Where have you been?'

'Mr Bickersdyke sent for me, ' said Bannister, with the calm triumph ofone who trumps an ace. 

'Oh! Ah! Oh! Yes, very well. I see. But get to work, get to work. Whois this?'

'This is a new man. He's taking my place. I've been moved on to thecash. '

'Oh! Ah! Is your name Smith?' asked Mr Rossiter, turning to Mike. 

Mike corrected the rash guess, and gave his name. It struck him as acurious coincidence that he should be asked if his name were Smith, ofall others. Not that it is an uncommon name. 

'Mr Bickersdyke told me to expect a Mr Smith. Well, well, perhaps thereare two new men. Mr Bickersdyke knows we are short-handed in thisdepartment. But, come along, Bannister, come along. Show Jackson whathe has to do. We must get on. There is no time to waste. '

He buzzed back to his lair. Bannister grinned at Mike. He was acheerful youth. His normal expression was a grin. 

'That's a sample of Rossiter, ' he said. 'You'd think from the fuss he'smade that the business of the place was at a standstill till we got towork. Perfect rot! There's never anything to do here till after lunch, except checking the stamps and petty cash, and I've done that ages ago. There are three letters. You may as well enter them. It all looks likework. But you'll find the best way is to wait till you get a couple ofdozen or so, and then work them off in a batch. But if you see Rossiterabout, then start stamping something or writing something, or he'll runyou in for neglecting your job. He's a nut. I'm jolly glad I'm underold Waller now. He's the pick of the bunch. The other heads ofdepartments are all nuts, and Bickersdyke's the nuttiest of the lot. Now, look here. This is all you've got to do. I'll just show you, andthen you can manage for yourself. I shall have to be shunting off to myown work in a minute. '

5. The Other Man

As Bannister had said, the work in the postage department was notintricate. There was nothing much to do except enter and stamp letters, and, at intervals, take them down to the post office at the end of thestreet. The nature of the work gave Mike plenty of time for reflection. 

His thoughts became gloomy again. All this was very far removed fromthe life to which he had looked forward. There are some people who takenaturally to a life of commerce. Mike was not of these. To him therestraint of the business was irksome. He had been used to an open-airlife, and a life, in its way, of excitement. He gathered that he wouldnot be free till five o'clock, and that on the following day he wouldcome at ten and go at five, and the same every day, except Saturdaysand Sundays, all the year round, with a ten days' holiday. The monotonyof the prospect appalled him. He was not old enough to know what anarcotic is Habit, and that one can become attached to and interestedin the most unpromising jobs. He worked away dismally at his letterstill he had finished them. Then there was nothing to do except sit andwait for more. 

He looked through the letters he had stamped, and re-read theaddresses. Some of them were directed to people living in the country, one to a house which he knew quite well, near to his own home inShropshire. It made him home-sick, conjuring up visions of shadygardens and country sounds and smells, and the silver Severn gleamingin the distance through the trees. About now, if he were not in thisdismal place, he would be lying in the shade in the garden with a book, or wandering down to the river to boat or bathe. That envelopeaddressed to the man in Shropshire gave him the worst moment he hadexperienced that day. 

The time crept slowly on to one o'clock. At two minutes past Mike awokefrom a day-dream to find Mr Waller standing by his side. The cashierhad his hat on. 

'I wonder, ' said Mr Waller, 'if you would care to come out to lunch. Igenerally go about this time, and Mr Rossiter, I know, does not go outtill two. I thought perhaps that, being unused to the City, you mighthave some difficulty in finding your way about. '

'It's awfully good of you, ' said Mike. 'I should like to. '

The other led the way through the streets and down obscure alleys tillthey came to a chop-house. Here one could have the doubtful pleasure ofseeing one's chop in its various stages of evolution. Mr Waller orderedlunch with the care of one to whom lunch is no slight matter. Fewworkers in the City do regard lunch as a trivial affair. It is thekeynote of their day. It is an oasis in a desert of ink and ledgers. Conversation in city office deals, in the morning, with what one isgoing to have for lunch, and in the afternoon with what one has had forlunch. 

At intervals during the meal Mr Waller talked. Mike was content tolisten. There was something soothing about the grey-bearded one. 

'What sort of a man is Bickersdyke?' asked Mike. 

'A very able man. A very able man indeed. I'm afraid he's not popularin the office. A little inclined, perhaps, to be hard on mistakes. Ican remember the time when he was quite different. He and I were fellowclerks in Morton and Blatherwick's. He got on better than I did. Agreat fellow for getting on. They say he is to be the Unionistcandidate for Kenningford when the time comes. A great worker, butperhaps not quite the sort of man to be generally popular in anoffice. '

'He's a blighter, ' was Mike's verdict. Mr Waller made no comment. Mikewas to learn later that the manager and the cashier, despite the factthat they had been together in less prosperous days--or possiblybecause of it--were not on very good terms. Mr Bickersdyke was a man ofstrong prejudices, and he disliked the cashier, whom he looked downupon as one who had climbed to a lower rung of the ladder than hehimself had reached. 

As the hands of the chop-house clock reached a quarter to two, MrWaller rose, and led the way back to the office, where they parted fortheir respective desks. Gratitude for any good turn done to him was aleading characteristic of Mike's nature, and he felt genuinely gratefulto the cashier for troubling to seek him out and be friendly to him. 

His three-quarters-of-an-hour absence had led to the accumulation of asmall pile of letters on his desk. He sat down and began to work themoff. The addresses continued to exercise a fascination for him. He wasmiles away from the office, speculating on what sort of a man J. B. Garside, Esq, was, and whether he had a good time at his house inWorcestershire, when somebody tapped him on the shoulder. 

He looked up. 

Standing by his side, immaculately dressed as ever, with his eye-glassfixed and a gentle smile on his face, was Psmith. 

Mike stared. 

'Commerce, ' said Psmith, as he drew off his lavender gloves, 'hasclaimed me for her own. Comrade of old, I, too, have joined thisblighted institution. '

As he spoke, there was a whirring noise in the immediate neighbourhood, and Mr Rossiter buzzed out from his den with the _esprit_ andanimation of a clock-work toy. 

'Who's here?' said Psmith with interest, removing his eye-glass, polishing it, and replacing it in his eye. 

'Mr Jackson, ' exclaimed Mr Rossiter. 'I really must ask you to be goodenough to come in from your lunch at the proper time. It was fullyseven minutes to two when you returned, and--'

'That little more, ' sighed Psmith, 'and how much is it!'

'Who are you?' snapped Mr Rossiter, turning on him. 

'I shall be delighted, Comrade--'

'Rossiter, ' said Mike, aside. 

'Comrade Rossiter. I shall be delighted to furnish you with particularsof my family history. As follows. Soon after the Norman Conquest, acertain Sieur de Psmith grew tired of work--a family failing, alas!--and settled down in this country to live peacefully for theremainder of his life on what he could extract from the localpeasantry. He may be described as the founder of the family whichultimately culminated in Me. Passing on--'

Mr Rossiter refused to pass on. 

'What are you doing here? What have you come for?'

'Work, ' said Psmith, with simple dignity. 'I am now a member of thestaff of this bank. Its interests are my interests. Psmith, theindividual, ceases to exist, and there springs into being Psmith, thecog in the wheel of the New Asiatic Bank; Psmith, the link in thebank's chain; Psmith, the Worker. I shall not spare myself, ' heproceeded earnestly. 'I shall toil with all the accumulated energy ofone who, up till now, has only known what work is like from hearsay. Whose is that form sitting on the steps of the bank in the morning, waiting eagerly for the place to open? It is the form of Psmith, theWorker. Whose is that haggard, drawn face which bends over a ledgerlong after the other toilers have sped blithely westwards to dine atLyons' Popular Cafe? It is the face of Psmith, the Worker. '

'I--' began Mr Rossiter. 

'I tell you, ' continued Psmith, waving aside the interruption andtapping the head of the department rhythmically in the region of thesecond waistcoat-button with a long finger, 'I tell _you_, ComradeRossiter, that you have got hold of a good man. You and I together, notforgetting Comrade Jackson, the pet of the Smart Set, will toil earlyand late till we boost up this Postage Department into a shining modelof what a Postage Department should be. What that is, at present, I donot exactly know. However. Excursion trains will be run from distantshires to see this Postage Department. American visitors to London willdo it before going on to the Tower. And now, ' he broke off, with acrisp, businesslike intonation, 'I must ask you to excuse me. Much as Ihave enjoyed this little chat, I fear it must now cease. The time hascome to work. Our trade rivals are getting ahead of us. The whispergoes round, "Rossiter and Psmith are talking, not working, " and otherfirms prepare to pinch our business. Let me Work. '

Two minutes later, Mr Rossiter was sitting at his desk with a dazedexpression, while Psmith, perched gracefully on a stool, enteredfigures in a ledger. 

6. Psmith Explains

For the space of about twenty-five minutes Psmith sat in silence, concentrated on his ledger, the picture of the model bank-clerk. Thenhe flung down his pen, slid from his stool with a satisfied sigh, anddusted his waistcoat. 'A commercial crisis, ' he said, 'has passed. Thejob of work which Comrade Rossiter indicated for me has been completedwith masterly skill. The period of anxiety is over. The bank ceases tototter. Are you busy, Comrade Jackson, or shall we chat awhile?'

Mike was not busy. He had worked off the last batch of letters, andthere was nothing to do but to wait for the next, or--happy thought--totake the present batch down to the post, and so get out into thesunshine and fresh air for a short time. 'I rather think I'll nip downto the post-office, ' said he, 'You couldn't come too, I suppose?'

'On the contrary, ' said Psmith, 'I could, and will. A stroll will justrestore those tissues which the gruelling work of the last half-hourhas wasted away. It is a fearful strain, this commercial toil. Let ustrickle towards the post office. I will leave my hat and gloves as aguarantee of good faith. The cry will go round, "Psmith has gone! Somerival institution has kidnapped him!" Then they will see my hat, '--hebuilt up a foundation of ledgers, planted a long ruler in the middle, and hung his hat on it--'my gloves, '--he stuck two pens into the deskand hung a lavender glove on each--'and they will sink back swooningwith relief. The awful suspense will be over. They will say, "No, hehas not gone permanently. Psmith will return. When the fields are whitewith daisies he'll return. " And now, Comrade Jackson, lead me to thispicturesque little post-office of yours of which I have heard so much. '

Mike picked up the long basket into which he had thrown the lettersafter entering the addresses in his ledger, and they moved off down theaisle. No movement came from Mr Rossiter's lair. Its energetic occupantwas hard at work. They could just see part of his hunched-up back. 

'I wish Comrade Downing could see us now, ' said Psmith. 'He always setus down as mere idlers. Triflers. Butterflies. It would be a wholesomecorrective for him to watch us perspiring like this in the cause ofCommerce. '

'You haven't told me yet what on earth you're doing here, ' said Mike. 'I thought you were going to the 'Varsity. Why the dickens are you in abank? Your pater hasn't lost his money, has he?'

'No. There is still a tolerable supply of doubloons in the old oakchest. Mine is a painful story. '

'It always is, ' said Mike. 

'You are very right, Comrade Jackson. I am the victim of Fate. Ah, soyou put the little chaps in there, do you?' he said, as Mike, reachingthe post-office, began to bundle the letters into the box. 'You seem tohave grasped your duties with admirable promptitude. It is the samewith me. I fancy we are both born men of Commerce. In a few years weshall be pinching Comrade Bickersdyke's job. And talking of Comrade B. Brings me back to my painful story. But I shall never have time to tellit to you during our walk back. Let us drift aside into this tea-shop. We can order a buckwheat cake or a butter-nut, or something equallysucculent, and carefully refraining from consuming these dainties, Iwill tell you all. '

'Right O!' said Mike. 

'When last I saw you, ' resumed Psmith, hanging Mike's basket on thehat-stand and ordering two portions of porridge, 'you may remember thata serious crisis in my affairs had arrived. My father inflamed with theidea of Commerce had invited Comrade Bickersdyke--'

'When did you know he was a manager here?' asked Mike. 

'At an early date. I have my spies everywhere. However, my paterinvited Comrade Bickersdyke to our house for the weekend. Things turnedout rather unfortunately. Comrade B. Resented my purely altruisticefforts to improve him mentally and morally. Indeed, on one occasion hewent so far as to call me an impudent young cub, and to add that hewished he had me under him in his bank, where, he asserted, he wouldknock some of the nonsense out of me. All very painful. I tell you, Comrade Jackson, for the moment it reduced my delicately vibratingganglions to a mere frazzle. Recovering myself, I made a few blitheremarks, and we then parted. I cannot say that we parted friends, butat any rate I bore him no ill-will. I was still determined to make hima credit to me. My feelings towards him were those of some kindlyfather to his prodigal son. But he, if I may say so, was fairly on thehop. And when my pater, after dinner the same night, played into hishands by mentioning that he thought I ought to plunge into a career ofcommerce, Comrade B. Was, I gather, all over him. Offered to make avacancy for me in the bank, and to take me on at once. My pater, feeling that this was the real hustle which he admired so much, had mein, stated his case, and said, in effect, "How do we go?" I intimatedthat Comrade Bickersdyke was my greatest chum on earth. So the thingwas fixed up and here I am. But you are not getting on with yourporridge, Comrade Jackson. Perhaps you don't care for porridge? Wouldyou like a finnan haddock, instead? Or a piece of shortbread? You haveonly to say the word. '

'It seems to me, ' said Mike gloomily, 'that we are in for a prettyrotten time of it in this bally bank. If Bickersdyke's got his knifeinto us, he can make it jolly warm for us. He's got his knife into meall right about that walking-across-the-screen business. '

'True, ' said Psmith, 'to a certain extent. It is an undoubted fact thatComrade Bickersdyke will have a jolly good try at making life anuisance to us; but, on the other hand, I propose, so far as in melies, to make things moderately unrestful for him, here and there. '

'But you can't, ' objected Mike. 'What I mean to say is, it isn't like aschool. If you wanted to score off a master at school, you could alwaysrag and so on. But here you can't. How can you rag a man who's sittingall day in a room of his own while you're sweating away at a desk atthe other end of the building?'

'You put the case with admirable clearness, Comrade Jackson, ' saidPsmith approvingly. 'At the hard-headed, common-sense business yousneak the biscuit every time with ridiculous case. But you do not knowall. I do not propose to do a thing in the bank except work. I shall bea model as far as work goes. I shall be flawless. I shall bound to doComrade Rossiter's bidding like a highly trained performing dog. It isoutside the bank, when I have staggered away dazed with toil, that Ishall resume my attention to the education of Comrade Bickersdyke. '

'But, dash it all, how can you? You won't see him. He'll go off home, or to his club, or--'

Psmith tapped him earnestly on the chest. 

'There, Comrade Jackson, ' he said, 'you have hit the bull's-eye, rungthe bell, and gathered in the cigar or cocoanut according to choice. He_will_ go off to his club. And I shall do precisely the same. '

'How do you mean?'

'It is this way. My father, as you may have noticed during your stay atour stately home of England, is a man of a warm, impulsive character. He does not always do things as other people would do them. He has hisown methods. Thus, he has sent me into the City to do the hard-working, bank-clerk act, but at the same time he is allowing me just as large anallowance as he would have given me if I had gone to the 'Varsity. Moreover, while I was still at Eton he put my name up for his clubs, the Senior Conservative among others. My pater belongs to fourclubs altogether, and in course of time, when my name comes up forelection, I shall do the same. Meanwhile, I belong to one, the SeniorConservative. It is a bigger club than the others, and your name comesup for election sooner. About the middle of last month a great yell ofjoy made the West End of London shake like a jelly. The three thousandmembers of the Senior Conservative had just learned that I had beenelected. '

Psmith paused, and ate some porridge. 

'I wonder why they call this porridge, ' he observed with mild interest. 'It would be far more manly and straightforward of them to give it itsreal name. To resume. I have gleaned, from casual chit-chat with myfather, that Comrade Bickersdyke also infests the Senior Conservative. You might think that that would make me, seeing how particular I amabout whom I mix with, avoid the club. Error. I shall go there everyday. If Comrade Bickersdyke wishes to emend any little traits in mycharacter of which he may disapprove, he shall never say that I did notgive him the opportunity. I shall mix freely with Comrade Bickersdykeat the Senior Conservative Club. I shall be his constant companion. Ishall, in short, haunt the man. By these strenuous means I shall, as itwere, get a bit of my own back. And now, ' said Psmith, rising, 'itmight be as well, perhaps, to return to the bank and resume ourcommercial duties. I don't know how long you are supposed to be allowedfor your little trips to and from the post-office, but, seeing that thedistance is about thirty yards, I should say at a venture not more thanhalf an hour. Which is exactly the space of time which has flitted bysince we started out on this important expedition. Your devotion toporridge, Comrade Jackson, has led to our spending about twenty-fiveminutes in this hostelry. '

'Great Scott, ' said Mike, 'there'll be a row. '

'Some slight temporary breeze, perhaps, ' said Psmith. 'Annoying to menof culture and refinement, but not lasting. My only fear is lest we mayhave worried Comrade Rossiter at all. I regard Comrade Rossiter as anelder brother, and would not cause him a moment's heart-burning forworlds. However, we shall soon know, ' he added, as they passed into thebank and walked up the aisle, 'for there is Comrade Rossiter waiting toreceive us in person. '

The little head of the Postage Department was moving restlessly aboutin the neighbourhood of Psmith's and Mike's desk. 

'Am I mistaken, ' said Psmith to Mike, 'or is there the merest suspicionof a worried look on our chief's face? It seems to me that there is theslightest soupcon of shadow about that broad, calm brow. '

7. Going into Winter Quarters

There was. 

Mr Rossiter had discovered Psmith's and Mike's absence about fiveminutes after they had left the building. Ever since then, he had beenpopping out of his lair at intervals of three minutes, to see whetherthey had returned. Constant disappointment in this respect had renderedhim decidedly jumpy. When Psmith and Mike reached the desk, he was akind of human soda-water bottle. He fizzed over with questions, reproofs, and warnings. 

'What does it mean? What does it mean?' he cried. 'Where have you been?Where have you been?'

'Poetry, ' said Psmith approvingly. 

'You have been absent from your places for over half an hour. Why? Why?Why? Where have you been? Where have you been? I cannot have this. Itis preposterous. Where have you been? Suppose Mr Bickersdyke hadhappened to come round here. I should not have known what to say tohim. '

'Never an easy man to chat with, Comrade Bickersdyke, ' agreed Psmith. 

'You must thoroughly understand that you are expected to remain in yourplaces during business hours. '

'Of course, ' said Psmith, 'that makes it a little hard for ComradeJackson to post letters, does it not?'

'Have you been posting letters?'

'We have, ' said Psmith. 'You have wronged us. Seeing our absent placesyou jumped rashly to the conclusion that we were merely gadding aboutin pursuit of pleasure. Error. All the while we were furthering thebank's best interests by posting letters. '

'You had no business to leave your place. Jackson is on the postingdesk. '

'You are very right, ' said Psmith, 'and it shall not occur again. Itwas only because it was the first day, Comrade Jackson is not used tothe stir and bustle of the City. His nerve failed him. He shrank fromgoing to the post-office alone. So I volunteered to accompany him. And, ' concluded Psmith, impressively, 'we won safely through. Everyletter has been posted. '

'That need not have taken you half an hour. '

'True. And the actual work did not. It was carried through swiftly andsurely. But the nerve-strain had left us shaken. Before resuming ourmore ordinary duties we had to refresh. A brief breathing-space, alittle coffee and porridge, and here we are, fit for work once more. '

'If it occurs again, I shall report the matter to Mr Bickersdyke. '

'And rightly so, ' said Psmith, earnestly. 'Quite rightly so. Discipline, discipline. That is the cry. There must be no shirking ofpainful duties. Sentiment must play no part in business. Rossiter, theman, may sympathise, but Rossiter, the Departmental head, must beadamant. '

Mr Rossiter pondered over this for a moment, then went off on aside-issue. 

'What is the meaning of this foolery?' he asked, pointing to Psmith'sgloves and hat. 'Suppose Mr Bickersdyke had come round and seen them, what should I have said?'

'You would have given him a message of cheer. You would have said, "Allis well. Psmith has not left us. He will come back. And ComradeBickersdyke, relieved, would have--"'

'You do not seem very busy, Mr Smith. '

Both Psmith and Mr Rossiter were startled. 

Mr Rossiter jumped as if somebody had run a gimlet into him, and evenPsmith started slightly. They had not heard Mr Bickersdyke approaching. Mike, who had been stolidly entering addresses in his ledger during thelatter part of the conversation, was also taken by surprise. 

Psmith was the first to recover. Mr Rossiter was still too confused forspeech, but Psmith took the situation in hand. 

'Apparently no, ' he said, swiftly removing his hat from the ruler. 'Inreality, yes. Mr Rossiter and I were just scheming out a line of workfor me as you came up. If you had arrived a moment later, you wouldhave found me toiling. '

'H'm. I hope I should. We do not encourage idling in this bank. '

'Assuredly not, ' said Psmith warmly. 'Most assuredly not. I would nothave it otherwise. I am a worker. A bee, not a drone. A_Lusitania, _ not a limpet. Perhaps I have not yet that grip on myduties which I shall soon acquire; but it is coming. It is coming. Isee daylight. '

'H'm. I have only your word for it. ' He turned to Mr Rossiter, who hadnow recovered himself, and was as nearly calm as it was in his natureto be. 'Do you find Mr Smith's work satisfactory, Mr Rossiter?'

Psmith waited resignedly for an outburst of complaint respecting thesmall matter that had been under discussion between the head of thedepartment and himself; but to his surprise it did not come. 

'Oh--ah--quite, quite, Mr Bickersdyke. I think he will very soon pickthings up. '

Mr Bickersdyke turned away. He was a conscientious bank manager, andone can only suppose that Mr Rossiter's tribute to the earnestness ofone of his _employes_ was gratifying to him. But for that, one would havesaid that he was disappointed. 

'Oh, Mr Bickersdyke, ' said Psmith. 

The manager stopped. 

'Father sent his kind regards to you, ' said Psmith benevolently. 

Mr Bickersdyke walked off without comment. 

'An uncommonly cheery, companionable feller, ' murmured Psmith, as heturned to his work. 

The first day anywhere, if one spends it in a sedentary fashion, alwaysseemed unending; and Mike felt as if he had been sitting at his deskfor weeks when the hour for departure came. A bank's day endsgradually, reluctantly, as it were. At about five there is a sort ofstir, not unlike the stir in a theatre when the curtain is on the pointof falling. Ledgers are closed with a bang. Men stand about and talkfor a moment or two before going to the basement for their hats andcoats. Then, at irregular intervals, forms pass down the central aisleand out through the swing doors. There is an air of relaxation over theplace, though some departments are still working as hard as ever undera blaze of electric light. Somebody begins to sing, and an instantchorus of protests and maledictions rises from all sides. Gradually, however, the electric lights go out. The procession down the centreaisle becomes more regular; and eventually the place is left todarkness and the night watchman. 

The postage department was one of the last to be freed from duty. Thiswas due to the inconsiderateness of the other departments, whichomitted to disgorge their letters till the last moment. Mike as he grewfamiliar with the work, and began to understand it, used to prowl roundthe other departments during the afternoon and wrest letters from them, usually receiving with them much abuse for being a nuisance and notleaving honest workers alone. Today, however, he had to sit on tillnearly six, waiting for the final batch of correspondence. 

Psmith, who had waited patiently with him, though his own work wasfinished, accompanied him down to the post office and back again to thebank to return the letter basket; and they left the office together. 

'By the way, ' said Psmith, 'what with the strenuous labours of the bankand the disturbing interviews with the powers that be, I have omittedto ask you where you are digging. Wherever it is, of course you mustclear out. It is imperative, in this crisis, that we should betogether. I have acquired a quite snug little flat in Clement's Inn. There is a spare bedroom. It shall be yours. '

'My dear chap, ' said Mike, 'it's all rot. I can't sponge on you. '

'You pain me, Comrade Jackson. I was not suggesting such a thing. Weare business men, hard-headed young bankers. I make you a businessproposition. I offer you the post of confidential secretary and adviserto me in exchange for a comfortable home. The duties will be light. Youwill be required to refuse invitations to dinner from crowned heads, and to listen attentively to my views on Life. Apart from this, thereis little to do. So that's settled. '

'It isn't, ' said Mike. 'I--'

'You will enter upon your duties tonight. Where are you suspended atpresent?'

'Dulwich. But, look here--'

'A little more, and you'll get the sack. I tell you the thing issettled. Now, let us hail yon taximeter cab, and desire the stern-facedaristocrat on the box to drive us to Dulwich. We will then collect afew of your things in a bag, have the rest off by train, come back inthe taxi, and go and bite a chop at the Carlton. This is a momentousday in our careers, Comrade Jackson. We must buoy ourselves up. '

Mike made no further objections. The thought of that bed-sitting roomin Acacia Road and the pantomime dame rose up and killed them. Afterall, Psmith was not like any ordinary person. There would be noquestion of charity. Psmith had invited him to the flat in exactly thesame spirit as he had invited him to his house for the cricket week. 

'You know, ' said Psmith, after a silence, as they flitted through thestreets in the taximeter, 'one lives and learns. Were you so wrapped upin your work this afternoon that you did not hear my very entertaininglittle chat with Comrade Bickersdyke, or did it happen to come underyour notice? It did? Then I wonder if you were struck by the singularconduct of Comrade Rossiter?'

'I thought it rather decent of him not to give you away to thatblighter Bickersdyke. '

'Admirably put. It was precisely that that struck me. He had hisopening, all ready made for him, but he refrained from depositing me inthe soup. I tell you, Comrade Jackson, my rugged old heart was touched. I said to myself, "There must be good in Comrade Rossiter, after all. Imust cultivate him. " I shall make it my business to be kind to ourDepartmental head. He deserves the utmost consideration. His actionshone like a good deed in a wicked world. Which it was, of course. Fromtoday onwards I take Comrade Rossiter under my wing. We seem to begetting into a tolerably benighted quarter. Are we anywhere near?"Through Darkest Dulwich in a Taximeter. "'

The cab arrived at Dulwich station, and Mike stood up to direct thedriver. They whirred down Acacia Road. Mike stopped the cab and gotout. A brief and somewhat embarrassing interview with the pantomimedame, during which Mike was separated from a week's rent in lieu ofnotice, and he was in the cab again, bound for Clement's Inn. 

His feelings that night differed considerably from the frame of mind inwhich he had gone to bed the night before. It was partly a veryexcellent dinner and partly the fact that Psmith's flat, though atpresent in some disorder, was obviously going to be extremelycomfortable, that worked the change. But principally it was due to hishaving found an ally. The gnawing loneliness had gone. He did not lookforward to a career of Commerce with any greater pleasure than before;but there was no doubt that with Psmith, it would be easier to getthrough the time after office hours. If all went well in the bank hemight find that he had not drawn such a bad ticket after all. 

8. The Friendly Native

'The first principle of warfare, ' said Psmith at breakfast nextmorning, doling out bacon and eggs with the air of a medieval monarchdistributing largesse, 'is to collect a gang, to rope in allies, tosecure the cooperation of some friendly native. You may remember thatat Sedleigh it was partly the sympathetic cooperation of that recordblitherer, Comrade Jellicoe, which enabled us to nip the pro-Spillermovement in the bud. It is the same in the present crisis. What ComradeJellicoe was to us at Sedleigh, Comrade Rossiter must be in the City. We must make an ally of that man. Once I know that he and I are asbrothers, and that he will look with a lenient and benevolent eye onany little shortcomings in my work, I shall be able to devote myattention whole-heartedly to the moral reformation of ComradeBickersdyke, that man of blood. I look on Comrade Bickersdyke as abargee of the most pronounced type; and anything I can do towardsmaking him a decent member of Society shall be done freely andungrudgingly. A trifle more tea, Comrade Jackson?'

'No, thanks, ' said Mike. 'I've done. By Jove, Smith, this flat of yoursis all right. '

'Not bad, ' assented Psmith, 'not bad. Free from squalor to a greatextent. I have a number of little objects of _vertu_ coming downshortly from the old homestead. Pictures, and so on. It will be by nomeans un-snug when they are up. Meanwhile, I can rough it. We are oldcampaigners, we Psmiths. Give us a roof, a few comfortable chairs, asofa or two, half a dozen cushions, and decent meals, and we do notrepine. Reverting once more to Comrade Rossiter--'

'Yes, what about him?' said Mike. 'You'll have a pretty tough jobturning him into a friendly native, I should think. How do you mean tostart?'

Psmith regarded him with a benevolent eye. 

'There is but one way, ' he said. 'Do you remember the case of ComradeOutwood, at Sedleigh? How did we corral him, and become to himpractically as long-lost sons?'

'We got round him by joining the Archaeological Society. '

'Precisely, ' said Psmith. 'Every man has his hobby. The thing is tofind it out. In the case of comrade Rossiter, I should say that itwould be either postage stamps, dried seaweed, or Hall Caine. I shallendeavour to find out today. A few casual questions, and the thing isdone. Shall we be putting in an appearance at the busy hive now? If weare to continue in the running for the bonus stakes, it would be wellto start soon. '

Mike's first duty at the bank that morning was to check the stamps andpetty cash. While he was engaged on this task, he heard Psmithconversing affably with Mr Rossiter. 

'Good morning, ' said Psmith. 

'Morning, ' replied his chief, doing sleight-of-hand tricks with abundle of letters which lay on his desk. 'Get on with your work, Psmith. We have a lot before us. '

'Undoubtedly. I am all impatience. I should say that in an institutionlike this, dealing as it does with distant portions of the globe, aphilatelist would have excellent opportunities of increasing hiscollection. With me, stamp-collecting has always been a positive craze. I--'

'I have no time for nonsense of that sort myself, ' said Mr Rossiter. 'Ishould advise you, if you mean to get on, to devote more time to yourwork and less to stamps. '

'I will start at once. Dried seaweed, again--'

'Get on with your work, Smith. '

Psmith retired to his desk. 

'This, ' he said to Mike, 'is undoubtedly something in the nature of aset-back. I have drawn blank. The papers bring out posters, "PsmithBaffled. " I must try again. Meanwhile, to work. Work, the hobby of thephilosopher and the poor man's friend. '

The morning dragged slowly on without incident. At twelve o'clock Mikehad to go out and buy stamps, which he subsequently punched in thepunching-machine in the basement, a not very exhilarating job in whichhe was assisted by one of the bank messengers, who discoursed learnedlyon roses during the _seance_. Roses were his hobby. Mike began tosee that Psmith had reason in his assumption that the way to everyman's heart was through his hobby. Mike made a firm friend of William, the messenger, by displaying an interest and a certain knowledge ofroses. At the same time the conversation had the bad effect of leadingto an acute relapse in the matter of homesickness. The rose-garden athome had been one of Mike's favourite haunts on a summer afternoon. Thecontrast between it and the basement of the new Asiatic Bank, theatmosphere of which was far from being roselike, was too much for hisfeelings. He emerged from the depths, with his punched stamps, filledwith bitterness against Fate. 

He found Psmith still baffled. 

'Hall Caine, ' said Psmith regretfully, 'has also proved a frost. Iwandered round to Comrade Rossiter's desk just now with a rather brainyexcursus on "The Eternal City", and was received with the ImpatientFrown rather than the Glad Eye. He was in the middle of adding up arather tricky column of figures, and my remarks caused him to drop astitch. So far from winning the man over, I have gone back. There nowexists between Comrade Rossiter and myself a certain coldness. Furtherinvestigations will be postponed till after lunch. '

The postage department received visitors during the morning. Members ofother departments came with letters, among them Bannister. Mr Rossiterwas away in the manager's room at the time. 

'How are you getting on?' said Bannister to Mike. 

'Oh, all right, ' said Mike. 

'Had any trouble with Rossiter yet?'

'No, not much. '

'He hasn't run you in to Bickersdyke?'

'No. '

'Pardon my interrupting a conversation between old college chums, ' saidPsmith courteously, 'but I happened to overhear, as I toiled at mydesk, the name of Comrade Rossiter. '

Bannister looked somewhat startled. Mike introduced them. 

'This is Smith, ' he said. 'Chap I was at school with. This isBannister, Smith, who used to be on here till I came. '

'In this department?' asked Psmith. 

'Yes. '

'Then, Comrade Bannister, you are the very man I have been looking for. Your knowledge will be invaluable to us. I have no doubt that, duringyour stay in this excellently managed department, you had manyopportunities of observing Comrade Rossiter?'

'I should jolly well think I had, ' said Bannister with a laugh. 'He sawto that. He was always popping out and cursing me about something. '

'Comrade Rossiter's manners are a little restive, ' agreed Psmith. 'Whatused you to talk to him about?'

'What used I to talk to him about?'

'Exactly. In those interviews to which you have alluded, how did youamuse, entertain Comrade Rossiter?'

'I didn't. He used to do all the talking there was. '

Psmith straightened his tie, and clicked his tongue, disappointed. 

'This is unfortunate, ' he said, smoothing his hair. 'You see, ComradeBannister, it is this way. In the course of my professional duties, Ifind myself continually coming into contact with Comrade Rossiter. '

'I bet you do, ' said Bannister. 

'On these occasions I am frequently at a loss for entertainingconversation. He has no difficulty, as apparently happened in yourcase, in keeping up his end of the dialogue. The subject of myshortcomings provides him with ample material for speech. I, on theother hand, am dumb. I have nothing to say. '

'I should think that was a bit of a change for you, wasn't it?'

'Perhaps, so, ' said Psmith, 'perhaps so. On the other hand, howeverrestful it may be to myself, it does not enable me to secure ComradeRossiter's interest and win his esteem. '

'What Smith wants to know, ' said Mike, 'is whether Rossiter has anyhobby of any kind. He thinks, if he has, he might work it to keep inwith him. '

Psmith, who had been listening with an air of pleased interest, much asa father would listen to his child prattling for the benefit of avisitor, confirmed this statement. 

'Comrade Jackson, ' he said, 'has put the matter with his usualadmirable clearness. That is the thing in a nutshell. Has ComradeRossiter any hobby that you know of? Spillikins, brass-rubbing, theNear Eastern Question, or anything like that? I have tried him withpostage-stamps (which you'd think, as head of a postage department, heought to be interested in), and dried seaweed, Hall Caine, but I havethe honour to report total failure. The man seems to have no pleasures. What does he do with himself when the day's toil is ended? That giantbrain must occupy itself somehow. '

'I don't know, ' said Bannister, 'unless it's football. I saw him oncewatching Chelsea. I was rather surprised. '

'Football, ' said Psmith thoughtfully, 'football. By no means a scalyidea. I rather fancy, Comrade Bannister, that you have whanged the nailon the head. Is he strong on any particular team? I mean, have you everheard him, in the intervals of business worries, stamping on his deskand yelling, "Buck up Cottagers!" or "Lay 'em out, Pensioners!" oranything like that? One moment. ' Psmith held up his hand. 'I will getmy Sherlock Holmes system to work. What was the other team in themodern gladiatorial contest at which you saw Comrade Rossiter?'

'Manchester United. '

'And Comrade Rossiter, I should say, was a Manchester man. '

'I believe he is. '

'Then I am prepared to bet a small sum that he is nuts on ManchesterUnited. My dear Holmes, how--! Elementary, my dear fellow, quiteelementary. But here comes the lad in person. '

Mr Rossiter turned in from the central aisle through the counter-door, and, observing the conversational group at the postage-desk, camebounding up. Bannister moved off. 

'Really, Smith, ' said Mr Rossiter, 'you always seem to be talking. Ihave overlooked the matter once, as I did not wish to get you intotrouble so soon after joining; but, really, it cannot go on. I musttake notice of it. '

Psmith held up his hand. 

'The fault was mine, ' he said, with manly frankness. 'Entirely mine. Bannister came in a purely professional spirit to deposit a letter withComrade Jackson. I engaged him in conversation on the subject of theFootball League, and I was just trying to correct his view thatNewcastle United were the best team playing, when you arrived. '

'It is perfectly absurd, ' said Mr Rossiter, 'that you should waste thebank's time in this way. The bank pays you to work, not to talk aboutprofessional football. '

'Just so, just so, ' murmured Psmith. 

'There is too much talking in this department. '

'I fear you are right. '

'It is nonsense. '

'My own view, ' said Psmith, 'was that Manchester United were by far thefinest team before the public. '

'Get on with your work, Smith. '

Mr Rossiter stumped off to his desk, where he sat as one in thought. 

'Smith, ' he said at the end of five minutes. 

Psmith slid from his stool, and made his way deferentially towards him. 

'Bannister's a fool, ' snapped Mr Rossiter. 

'So I thought, ' said Psmith. 

'A perfect fool. He always was. '

Psmith shook his head sorrowfully, as who should say, 'Exit Bannister. '

'There is no team playing today to touch Manchester United. '

'Precisely what I said to Comrade Bannister. '

'Of course. You know something about it. '

'The study of League football, ' said Psmith, 'has been my relaxationfor years. '

'But we have no time to discuss it now. '

'Assuredly not, sir. Work before everything. '

'Some other time, when--'

'--We are less busy. Precisely. '

Psmith moved back to his seat. 

'I fear, ' he said to Mike, as he resumed work, 'that as far as ComradeRossiter's friendship and esteem are concerned, I have to a certainextent landed Comrade Bannister in the bouillon; but it was in a goodcause. I fancy we have won through. Half an hour's thoughtful perusalof the "Footballers' Who's Who", just to find out some elementary factsabout Manchester United, and I rather think the friendly Native iscorralled. And now once more to work. Work, the hobby of the hustlerand the deadbeat's dread. '

9. The Haunting of Mr Bickersdyke

Anything in the nature of a rash and hasty move was wholly foreign toPsmith's tactics. He had the patience which is the chief quality of thesuccessful general. He was content to secure his base before making anyoffensive movement. It was a fortnight before he turned his attentionto the education of Mr Bickersdyke. During that fortnight he conversedattractively, in the intervals of work, on the subject of Leaguefootball in general and Manchester United in particular. The subject isnot hard to master if one sets oneself earnestly to it; and Psmithspared no pains. The football editions of the evening papers are notreticent about those who play the game: and Psmith drank in everydetail with the thoroughness of the conscientious student. By the endof the fortnight he knew what was the favourite breakfast-food of J. Turnbull; what Sandy Turnbull wore next his skin; and who, in theopinion of Meredith, was England's leading politician. These facts, imparted to and discussed with Mr Rossiter, made the progress of the_entente cordiale_ rapid. It was on the eighth day that MrRossiter consented to lunch with the Old Etonian. On the tenth heplayed the host. By the end of the fortnight the flapping of the whitewings of Peace over the Postage Department was setting up a positivedraught. Mike, who had been introduced by Psmith as a distant relativeof Moger, the goalkeeper, was included in the great peace. 

'So that now, ' said Psmith, reflectively polishing his eye-glass, 'Ithink that we may consider ourselves free to attend to ComradeBickersdyke. Our bright little Mancunian friend would no more run us innow than if we were the brothers Turnbull. We are as inside forwards tohim. '

The club to which Psmith and Mr Bickersdyke belonged was celebrated forthe steadfastness of its political views, the excellence of itscuisine, and the curiously Gorgonzolaesque marble of its mainstaircase. It takes all sorts to make a world. It took about fourthousand of all sorts to make the Senior Conservative Club. To beabsolutely accurate, there were three thousand seven hundred andeighteen members. 

To Mr Bickersdyke for the next week it seemed as if there was only one. 

There was nothing crude or overdone about Psmith's methods. Theordinary man, having conceived the idea of haunting a fellow clubman, might have seized the first opportunity of engaging him inconversation. Not so Psmith. The first time he met Mr Bickersdyke inthe club was on the stairs after dinner one night. The great man, having received practical proof of the excellence of cuisine referredto above, was coming down the main staircase at peace with all men, when he was aware of a tall young man in the 'faultless evening dress'of which the female novelist is so fond, who was regarding him with afixed stare through an eye-glass. The tall young man, having caught hiseye, smiled faintly, nodded in a friendly but patronizing manner, andpassed on up the staircase to the library. Mr Bickersdyke sped on insearch of a waiter. 

As Psmith sat in the library with a novel, the waiter entered, andapproached him. 

'Beg pardon, sir, ' he said. 'Are you a member of this club?'

Psmith fumbled in his pocket and produced his eye-glass, through whichhe examined the waiter, button by button. 

'I am Psmith, ' he said simply. 

'A member, sir?'

'_The_ member, ' said Psmith. 'Surely you participated in thegeneral rejoicings which ensued when it was announced that I had beenelected? But perhaps you were too busy working to pay any attention. Ifso, I respect you. I also am a worker. A toiler, not a flatfish. Asizzler, not a squab. Yes, I am a member. Will you tell Mr Bickersdykethat I am sorry, but I have been elected, and have paid my entrance feeand subscription. '

'Thank you, sir. '

The waiter went downstairs and found Mr Bickersdyke in the lowersmoking-room. 

'The gentleman says he is, sir. '

'H'm, ' said the bank-manager. 'Coffee and Benedictine, and a cigar. '

'Yes, sir. '

On the following day Mr Bickersdyke met Psmith in the club three times, and on the day after that seven. Each time the latter's smile wasfriendly, but patronizing. Mr Bickersdyke began to grow restless. 

On the fourth day Psmith made his first remark. The manager was readingthe evening paper in a corner, when Psmith sinking gracefully into achair beside him, caused him to look up. 

'The rain keeps off, ' said Psmith. 

Mr Bickersdyke looked as if he wished his employee would imitate therain, but he made no reply. 

Psmith called a waiter. 

'Would you mind bringing me a small cup of coffee?' he said. 'And foryou, ' he added to Mr Bickersdyke. 

'Nothing, ' growled the manager. 

'And nothing for Mr Bickersdyke. '

The waiter retired. Mr Bickersdyke became absorbed in his paper. 

'I see from my morning paper, ' said Psmith, affably, 'that you are toaddress a meeting at the Kenningford Town Hall next week. I shall comeand hear you. Our politics differ in some respects, I fear--I inclineto the Socialist view--but nevertheless I shall listen to your remarkswith great interest, great interest. '

The paper rustled, but no reply came from behind it. 

'I heard from father this morning, ' resumed Psmith. 

Mr Bickersdyke lowered his paper and glared at him. 

'I don't wish to hear about your father, ' he snapped. 

An expression of surprise and pain came over Psmith's face. 

'What!' he cried. 'You don't mean to say that there is any coolnessbetween my father and you? I am more grieved than I can say. Knowing, as I do, what a genuine respect my father has for your great talents, Ican only think that there must have been some misunderstanding. Perhapsif you would allow me to act as a mediator--'

Mr Bickersdyke put down his paper and walked out of the room. 

Psmith found him a quarter of an hour later in the card-room. He satdown beside his table, and began to observe the play with silentinterest. Mr Bickersdyke, never a great performer at the best of times, was so unsettled by the scrutiny that in the deciding game of therubber he revoked, thereby presenting his opponents with the rubber bya very handsome majority of points. Psmith clicked his tonguesympathetically. 

Dignified reticence is not a leading characteristic of thebridge-player's manner at the Senior Conservative Club on occasionslike this. Mr Bickersdyke's partner did not bear his calamity withmanly resignation. He gave tongue on the instant. 'What on earth's', and 'Why on earth's' flowed from his mouth like molten lava. MrBickersdyke sat and fermented in silence. Psmith clicked his tonguesympathetically throughout. 

Mr Bickersdyke lost that control over himself which every member of aclub should possess. He turned on Psmith with a snort of frenzy. 

'How can I keep my attention fixed on the game when you sit staring atme like a--like a--'

'I am sorry, ' said Psmith gravely, 'if my stare falls short in any wayof your ideal of what a stare should be; but I appeal to thesegentlemen. Could I have watched the game more quietly?'

'Of course not, ' said the bereaved partner warmly. 'Nobody could haveany earthly objection to your behaviour. It was absolute carelessness. I should have thought that one might have expected one's partner at aclub like this to exercise elementary--'

But Mr Bickersdyke had gone. He had melted silently away like thedriven snow. 

Psmith took his place at the table. 

'A somewhat nervous excitable man, Mr Bickersdyke, I should say, ' heobserved. 

'A somewhat dashed, blanked idiot, ' emended the bank-manager's latepartner. 'Thank goodness he lost as much as I did. That's some lightconsolation. '

Psmith arrived at the flat to find Mike still out. Mike had repaired tothe Gaiety earlier in the evening to refresh his mind after the laboursof the day. When he returned, Psmith was sitting in an armchair withhis feet on the mantelpiece, musing placidly on Life. 

'Well?' said Mike. 

'Well? And how was the Gaiety? Good show?'

'Jolly good. What about Bickersdyke?'

Psmith looked sad. 

'I cannot make Comrade Bickersdyke out, ' he said. 'You would think thata man would be glad to see the son of a personal friend. On thecontrary, I may be wronging Comrade B. , but I should almost be inclinedto say that my presence in the Senior Conservative Club tonightirritated him. There was no _bonhomie_ in his manner. He seemed tome to be giving a spirited imitation of a man about to foam at themouth. I did my best to entertain him. I chatted. His only reply was toleave the room. I followed him to the card-room, and watched his veryremarkable and brainy tactics at bridge, and he accused me of causinghim to revoke. A very curious personality, that of Comrade Bickersdyke. But let us dismiss him from our minds. Rumours have reached me, ' saidPsmith, 'that a very decent little supper may be obtained at a quaint, old-world eating-house called the Savoy. Will you accompany me thitheron a tissue-restoring expedition? It would be rash not to probe theserumours to their foundation, and ascertain their exact truth. '

10. Mr Bickersdyke Addresses His Constituents

It was noted by the observant at the bank next morning that MrBickersdyke had something on his mind. William, the messenger, knew it, when he found his respectful salute ignored. Little Briggs, theaccountant, knew it when his obsequious but cheerful 'Good morning' wasacknowledged only by a 'Morn'' which was almost an oath. Mr Bickersdykepassed up the aisle and into his room like an east wind. He sat down athis table and pressed the bell. Harold, William's brother andco-messenger, entered with the air of one ready to duck if any missileshould be thrown at him. The reports of the manager's frame of mind hadbeen circulated in the office, and Harold felt somewhat apprehensive. It was on an occasion very similar to this that George Barstead, formerly in the employ of the New Asiatic Bank in the capacity ofmessenger, had been rash enough to laugh at what he had taken for ajoke of Mr Bickersdyke's, and had been instantly presented with thesack for gross impertinence. 

'Ask Mr Smith--' began the manager. Then he paused. 'No, never mind, 'he added. 

Harold remained in the doorway, puzzled. 

'Don't stand there gaping at me, man, ' cried Mr Bickersdyke, 'Go away. '

Harold retired and informed his brother, William, that in his, Harold's, opinion, Mr Bickersdyke was off his chump. 

'Off his onion, ' said William, soaring a trifle higher in poeticimagery. 

'Barmy, ' was the terse verdict of Samuel Jakes, the third messenger. 'Always said so. ' And with that the New Asiatic Bank staff ofmessengers dismissed Mr Bickersdyke and proceeded to concentratethemselves on their duties, which consisted principally of hangingabout and discussing the prophecies of that modern seer, Captain Coe. 

What had made Mr Bickersdyke change his mind so abruptly was the suddenrealization of the fact that he had no case against Psmith. In hiscapacity of manager of the bank he could not take official notice ofPsmith's behaviour outside office hours, especially as Psmith had donenothing but stare at him. It would be impossible to make anybodyunderstand the true inwardness of Psmith's stare. Theoretically, MrBickersdyke had the power to dismiss any subordinate of his whom he didnot consider satisfactory, but it was a power that had to be exercisedwith discretion. The manager was accountable for his actions to theBoard of Directors. If he dismissed Psmith, Psmith would certainlybring an action against the bank for wrongful dismissal, and on theevidence he would infallibly win it. Mr Bickersdyke did not welcome theprospect of having to explain to the Directors that he had let theshareholders of the bank in for a fine of whatever a discriminatingjury cared to decide upon, simply because he had been stared at whileplaying bridge. His only hope was to catch Psmith doing his work badly. 

He touched the bell again, and sent for Mr Rossiter. 

The messenger found the head of the Postage Department in conversationwith Psmith. Manchester United had been beaten by one goal to nil onthe previous afternoon, and Psmith was informing Mr Rossiter that thereferee was a robber, who had evidently been financially interested inthe result of the game. The way he himself looked at it, said Psmith, was that the thing had been a moral victory for the United. Mr Rossitersaid yes, he thought so too. And it was at this moment that MrBickersdyke sent for him to ask whether Psmith's work was satisfactory. 

The head of the Postage Department gave his opinion without hesitation. Psmith's work was about the hottest proposition he had ever struck. Psmith's work--well, it stood alone. You couldn't compare it withanything. There are no degrees in perfection. Psmith's work wasperfect, and there was an end to it. 

He put it differently, but that was the gist of what he said. 

Mr Bickersdyke observed he was glad to hear it, and smashed a nib bystabbing the desk with it. 

It was on the evening following this that the bank-manager was due toaddress a meeting at the Kenningford Town Hall. 

He was looking forward to the event with mixed feelings. He had stoodfor Parliament once before, several years back, in the North. He hadbeen defeated by a couple of thousand votes, and he hoped that theepisode had been forgotten. Not merely because his defeat had beenheavy. There was another reason. On that occasion he had stood as aLiberal. He was standing for Kenningford as a Unionist. Of course, aman is at perfect liberty to change his views, if he wishes to do so, but the process is apt to give his opponents a chance of catching him(to use the inspired language of the music-halls) on the bend. MrBickersdyke was rather afraid that the light-hearted electors ofKenningford might avail themselves of this chance. 

Kenningford, S. E. , is undoubtedly by way of being a tough sort ofplace. Its inhabitants incline to a robust type of humour, which findsa verbal vent in catch phrases and expends itself physically insmashing shop-windows and kicking policemen. He feared that the meetingat the Town Hall might possibly be a trifle rowdy. 

All political meetings are very much alike. Somebody gets up andintroduces the speaker of the evening, and then the speaker of theevening says at great length what he thinks of the scandalous manner inwhich the Government is behaving or the iniquitous goings-on of theOpposition. From time to time confederates in the audience rise and askcarefully rehearsed questions, and are answered fully andsatisfactorily by the orator. When a genuine heckler interrupts, theorator either ignores him, or says haughtily that he can find himarguments but cannot find him brains. Or, occasionally, when thequestion is an easy one, he answers it. A quietly conducted politicalmeeting is one of England's most delightful indoor games. When themeeting is rowdy, the audience has more fun, but the speaker a gooddeal less. 

Mr Bickersdyke's introducer was an elderly Scotch peer, an excellentman for the purpose in every respect, except that he possessed a verystrong accent. 

The audience welcomed that accent uproariously. The electors ofKenningford who really had any definite opinions on politics werefairly equally divided. There were about as many earnest Liberals asthere were earnest Unionists. But besides these there was a strongcontingent who did not care which side won. These looked on electionsas Heaven-sent opportunities for making a great deal of noise. Theyattended meetings in order to extract amusement from them; and theyvoted, if they voted at all, quite irresponsibly. A funny story at theexpense of one candidate told on the morning of the polling, was quitelikely to send these brave fellows off in dozens filling in theirpapers for the victim's opponent. 

There was a solid block of these gay spirits at the back of the hall. They received the Scotch peer with huge delight. He reminded them ofHarry Lauder and they said so. They addressed him affectionately as'Arry', throughout his speech, which was rather long. They implored himto be a pal and sing 'The Saftest of the Family'. Or, failing that, 'Ilove a lassie'. Finding they could not induce him to do this, they didit themselves. They sang it several times. When the peer, havingfinished his remarks on the subject of Mr Bickersdyke, at length satdown, they cheered for seven minutes, and demanded an encore. 

The meeting was in excellent spirits when Mr Bickersdyke rose toaddress it. 

The effort of doing justice to the last speaker had left the free andindependent electors at the back of the hall slightly limp. Thebank-manager's opening remarks were received without any demonstration. 

Mr Bickersdyke spoke well. He had a penetrating, if harsh, voice, andhe said what he had to say forcibly. Little by little the audience cameunder his spell. When, at the end of a well-turned sentence, he pausedand took a sip of water, there was a round of applause, in which manyof the admirers of Mr Harry Lauder joined. 

He resumed his speech. The audience listened intently. Mr Bickersdyke, having said some nasty things about Free Trade and the Alien Immigrant, turned to the Needs of the Navy and the necessity of increasing thefleet at all costs. 

'This is no time for half-measures, ' he said. 'We must do our utmost. We must burn our boats--'

'Excuse me, ' said a gentle voice. 

Mr Bickersdyke broke off. In the centre of the hall a tall figure hadrisen. Mr Bickersdyke found himself looking at a gleaming eye-glasswhich the speaker had just polished and inserted in his eye. 

The ordinary heckler Mr Bickersdyke would have taken in his stride. Hehad got his audience, and simply by continuing and ignoring theinterruption, he could have won through in safety. But the suddenappearance of Psmith unnerved him. He remained silent. 

'How, ' asked Psmith, 'do you propose to strengthen the Navy by burningboats?'

The inanity of the question enraged even the pleasure-seekers at theback. 

'Order! Order!' cried the earnest contingent. 

'Sit down, fice!' roared the pleasure-seekers. 

Psmith sat down with a patient smile. 

Mr Bickersdyke resumed his speech. But the fire had gone out of it. Hehad lost his audience. A moment before, he had grasped them and playedon their minds (or what passed for minds down Kenningford way) as on astringed instrument. Now he had lost his hold. 

He spoke on rapidly, but he could not get into his stride. The trivialinterruption had broken the spell. His words lacked grip. The deadsilence in which the first part of his speech had been received, thatsilence which is a greater tribute to the speaker than any applause, had given place to a restless medley of little noises; here a cough;there a scraping of a boot along the floor, as its wearer moveduneasily in his seat; in another place a whispered conversation. Theaudience was bored. 

Mr Bickersdyke left the Navy, and went on to more general topics. Buthe was not interesting. He quoted figures, saw a moment later that hehad not quoted them accurately, and instead of carrying on boldly, wentback and corrected himself. 

'Gow up top!' said a voice at the back of the hall, and there was ageneral laugh. 

Mr Bickersdyke galloped unsteadily on. He condemned the Government. Hesaid they had betrayed their trust. 

And then he told an anecdote. 

'The Government, gentlemen, ' he said, 'achieves nothing worthachieving, and every individual member of the Government takes all thecredit for what is done to himself. Their methods remind me, gentlemen, of an amusing experience I had while fishing one summer in the LakeDistrict. '

In a volume entitled 'Three Men in a Boat' there is a story of how theauthor and a friend go into a riverside inn and see a very large troutin a glass case. They make inquiries about it, have men assure them, one by one, that the trout was caught by themselves. In the end thetrout turns out to be made of plaster of Paris. 

Mr Bickersdyke told that story as an experience of his own whilefishing one summer in the Lake District. 

It went well. The meeting was amused. Mr Bickersdyke went on to draw atrenchant comparison between the lack of genuine merit in the trout andthe lack of genuine merit in the achievements of His Majesty'sGovernment. 

There was applause. 

When it had ceased, Psmith rose to his feet again. 

'Excuse me, ' he said. 

11. Misunderstood

Mike had refused to accompany Psmith to the meeting that evening, saying that he got too many chances in the ordinary way of business ofhearing Mr Bickersdyke speak, without going out of his way to makemore. So Psmith had gone off to Kenningford alone, and Mike, feelingtoo lazy to sally out to any place of entertainment, had remained atthe flat with a novel. 

He was deep in this, when there was the sound of a key in the latch, and shortly afterwards Psmith entered the room. On Psmith's brow therewas a look of pensive care, and also a slight discoloration. When heremoved his overcoat, Mike saw that his collar was burst and hangingloose and that he had no tie. On his erstwhile speckless and gleamingshirt front were number of finger-impressions, of a boldness andclearness of outline which would have made a Bertillon expert leap withjoy. 

'Hullo!' said Mike dropping his book. 

Psmith nodded in silence, went to his bedroom, and returned with alooking-glass. Propping this up on a table, he proceeded to examinehimself with the utmost care. He shuddered slightly as his eye fell onthe finger-marks; and without a word he went into his bathroom again. He emerged after an interval of ten minutes in sky-blue pyjamas, slippers, and an Old Etonian blazer. He lit a cigarette; and, sittingdown, stared pensively into the fire. 

'What the dickens have you been playing at?' demanded Mike. 

Psmith heaved a sigh. 

'That, ' he replied, 'I could not say precisely. At one moment it seemedto be Rugby football, at another a jiu-jitsu _seance_. Later, itbore a resemblance to a pantomime rally. However, whatever it was, itwas all very bright and interesting. A distinct experience. '

'Have you been scrapping?' asked Mike. 'What happened? Was there arow?'

'There was, ' said Psmith, 'in a measure what might be described as arow. At least, when you find a perfect stranger attaching himself toyour collar and pulling, you begin to suspect that something of thatkind is on the bill. '

'Did they do that?'

Psmith nodded. 

'A merchant in a moth-eaten bowler started warbling to a certain extentwith me. It was all very trying for a man of culture. He was a man whohad, I should say, discovered that alcohol was a food long before thedoctors found it out. A good chap, possibly, but a little boisterous inhis manner. Well, well. '

Psmith shook his head sadly. 

'He got you one on the forehead, ' said Mike, 'or somebody did. Tell uswhat happened. I wish the dickens I'd come with you. I'd no notionthere would be a rag of any sort. What did happen?'

'Comrade Jackson, ' said Psmith sorrowfully, 'how sad it is in this lifeof ours to be consistently misunderstood. You know, of course, howwrapped up I am in Comrade Bickersdyke's welfare. You know that all myefforts are directed towards making a decent man of him; that, inshort, I am his truest friend. Does he show by so much as a word thathe appreciates my labours? Not he. I believe that man is beginning todislike me, Comrade Jackson. '

'What happened, anyhow? Never mind about Bickersdyke. '

'Perhaps it was mistaken zeal on my part.... Well, I will tell you all. Make a long arm for the shovel, Comrade Jackson, and pile on a few morecoals. I thank you. Well, all went quite smoothly for a while. ComradeB. In quite good form. Got his second wind, and was going strong for thetape, when a regrettable incident occurred. He informed the meeting, that while up in the Lake country, fishing, he went to an inn and sawa remarkably large stuffed trout in a glass case. He made inquiries, and found that five separate and distinct people had caught--'

'Why, dash it all, ' said Mike, 'that's a frightful chestnut. '

Psmith nodded. 

'It certainly has appeared in print, ' he said. 'In fact I should havesaid it was rather a well-known story. I was so interested in ComradeBickersdyke's statement that the thing had happened to himself that, purely out of good-will towards him, I got up and told him that Ithought it was my duty, as a friend, to let him know that a man namedJerome had pinched his story, put it in a book, and got money by it. Money, mark you, that should by rights have been Comrade Bickersdyke's. He didn't appear to care much about sifting the matter thoroughly. Infact, he seemed anxious to get on with his speech, and slur the matterover. But, tactlessly perhaps, I continued rather to harp on the thing. I said that the book in which the story had appeared was published in1889. I asked him how long ago it was that he had been on his fishingtour, because it was important to know in order to bring the chargehome against Jerome. Well, after a bit, I was amazed, and pained, too, to hear Comrade Bickersdyke urging certain bravoes in the audience toturn me out. If ever there was a case of biting the hand that fedhim.... Well, well.... By this time the meeting had begun to take sidesto some extent. What I might call my party, the Earnest Investigators, were whistling between their fingers, stamping on the floor, andshouting, "Chestnuts!" while the opposing party, the bravoes, seemed tobe trying, as I say, to do jiu-jitsu tricks with me. It was a painfulsituation. I know the cultivated man of affairs should have passed thething off with a short, careless laugh; but, owing to theabove-mentioned alcohol-expert having got both hands under my collar, short, careless laughs were off. I was compelled, very reluctantly, toconclude the interview by tapping the bright boy on the jaw. He tookthe hint, and sat down on the floor. I thought no more of the matter, and was making my way thoughtfully to the exit, when a second man ofwrath put the above on my forehead. You can't ignore a thing like that. I collected some of his waistcoat and one of his legs, and hove himwith some vim into the middle distance. By this time a good many of theEarnest Investigators were beginning to join in; and it was just therethat the affair began to have certain points of resemblance to apantomime rally. Everybody seemed to be shouting a good deal andhitting everybody else. It was no place for a man of delicate culture, so I edged towards the door, and drifted out. There was a cab in theoffing. I boarded it. And, having kicked a vigorous politician in thestomach, as he was endeavouring to climb in too, I drove off home. '

Psmith got up, looked at his forehead once more in the glass, sighed, and sat down again. 

'All very disturbing, ' he said. 

'Great Scott, ' said Mike, 'I wish I'd come. Why on earth didn't youtell me you were going to rag? I think you might as well have done. Iwouldn't have missed it for worlds. '

Psmith regarded him with raised eyebrows. 

'Rag!' he said. 'Comrade Jackson, I do not understand you. You surelydo not think that I had any other object in doing what I did than toserve Comrade Bickersdyke? It's terrible how one's motives getdistorted in this world of ours. '

'Well, ' said Mike, with a grin, 'I know one person who'll jolly welldistort your motives, as you call it, and that's Bickersdyke. '

Psmith looked thoughtful. 

'True, ' he said, 'true. There is that possibility. I tell you, ComradeJackson, once more that my bright young life is being slowly blightedby the frightful way in which that man misunderstands me. It seemsalmost impossible to try to do him a good turn without having theaction misconstrued. '

'What'll you say to him tomorrow?'

'I shall make no allusion to the painful affair. If I happen to meethim in the ordinary course of business routine, I shall pass somelight, pleasant remark--on the weather, let us say, or the Bankrate--and continue my duties. '

'How about if he sends for you, and wants to do the light, pleasantremark business on his own?'

'In that case I shall not thwart him. If he invites me into his privateroom, I shall be his guest, and shall discuss, to the best of myability, any topic which he may care to introduce. There shall be noconstraint between Comrade Bickersdyke and myself. '

'No, I shouldn't think there would be. I wish I could come and hearyou. '

'I wish you could, ' said Psmith courteously. 

'Still, it doesn't matter much to you. You don't care if you do getsacked. '

Psmith rose. 

'In that way possibly, as you say, I am agreeably situated. If the NewAsiatic Bank does not require Psmith's services, there are otherspheres where a young man of spirit may carve a place for himself. No, what is worrying me, Comrade Jackson, is not the thought of the push. It is the growing fear that Comrade Bickersdyke and I will neverthoroughly understand and appreciate one another. A deep gulf liesbetween us. I do what I can do to bridge it over, but he makes noresponse. On his side of the gulf building operations appear to be atan entire standstill. That is what is carving these lines of care on myforehead, Comrade Jackson. That is what is painting these purplecircles beneath my eyes. Quite inadvertently to be disturbing ComradeBickersdyke, annoying him, preventing him from enjoying life. How sadthis is. Life bulges with these tragedies. '

Mike picked up the evening paper. 

'Don't let it keep you awake at night, ' he said. 'By the way, did yousee that Manchester United were playing this afternoon? They won. You'dbetter sit down and sweat up some of the details. You'll want themtomorrow. '

'You are very right, Comrade Jackson, ' said Psmith, reseating himself. 'So the Mancunians pushed the bulb into the meshes beyond the uprightsno fewer than four times, did they? Bless the dear boys, what spiritsthey do enjoy, to be sure. Comrade Jackson, do not disturb me. I mustconcentrate myself. These are deep waters. '

12. In a Nutshell

Mr Bickersdyke sat in his private room at the New Asiatic Bank with apile of newspapers before him. At least, the casual observer would havesaid that it was Mr Bickersdyke. In reality, however, it was an activevolcano in the shape and clothes of the bank-manager. It was freelyadmitted in the office that morning that the manager had lowered allrecords with ease. The staff had known him to be in a bad temperbefore--frequently; but his frame of mind on all previous occasions hadbeen, compared with his present frame of mind, that of a ratherexceptionally good-natured lamb. Within ten minutes of his arrival theentire office was on the jump. The messengers were collected in apallid group in the basement, discussing the affair in whispers andendeavouring to restore their nerve with about sixpenn'orth of thebeverage known as 'unsweetened'. The heads of departments, to a man, had bowed before the storm. Within the space of seven minutes and aquarter Mr Bickersdyke had contrived to find some fault with each ofthem. Inward Bills was out at an A. B. C. Shop snatching a hasty cup ofcoffee, to pull him together again. Outward Bills was sitting at hisdesk with the glazed stare of one who has been struck in the thorax bya thunderbolt. Mr Rossiter had been torn from Psmith in the middle of ahighly technical discussion of the Manchester United match, just as hewas showing--with the aid of a ball of paper--how he had once seenMeredith centre to Sandy Turnbull in a Cup match, and was now leapingabout like a distracted grasshopper. Mr Waller, head of the CashDepartment, had been summoned to the Presence, and after listeningmeekly to a rush of criticism, had retired to his desk with the air ofa beaten spaniel. 

Only one man of the many in the building seemed calm and happy--Psmith. 

Psmith had resumed the chat about Manchester United, on Mr Rossiter'sreturn from the lion's den, at the spot where it had been broken off;but, finding that the head of the Postage Department was in no mood fordiscussing football (or any thing else), he had postponed his remarksand placidly resumed his work. 

Mr Bickersdyke picked up a paper, opened it, and began searching thecolumns. He had not far to look. It was a slack season for thenewspapers, and his little trouble, which might have received aparagraph in a busy week, was set forth fully in three-quarters of acolumn. 

The column was headed, 'Amusing Heckling'. 

Mr Bickersdyke read a few lines, and crumpled the paper up with asnort. 

The next he examined was an organ of his own shade of politicalopinion. It too, gave him nearly a column, headed 'Disgraceful Scene atKenningford'. There was also a leaderette on the subject. 

The leaderette said so exactly what Mr Bickersdyke thought himself thatfor a moment he was soothed. Then the thought of his grievancereturned, and he pressed the bell. 

'Send Mr Smith to me, ' he said. 

William, the messenger, proceeded to inform Psmith of the summons. 

Psmith's face lit up. 

'I am always glad to sweeten the monotony of toil with a chat withLittle Clarence, ' he said. 'I shall be with him in a moment. '

He cleaned his pen very carefully, placed it beside his ledger, flickeda little dust off his coatsleeve, and made his way to the manager'sroom. 

Mr Bickersdyke received him with the ominous restraint of a tigercrouching for its spring. Psmith stood beside the table with languidgrace, suggestive of some favoured confidential secretary waiting forinstructions. 

A ponderous silence brooded over the room for some moments. Psmithbroke it by remarking that the Bank Rate was unchanged. He mentionedthis fact as if it afforded him a personal gratification. 

Mr Bickersdyke spoke. 

'Well, Mr Smith?' he said. 

'You wished to see me about something, sir?' inquired Psmith, ingratiatingly. 

'You know perfectly well what I wished to see you about. I want to hearyour explanation of what occurred last night. '

'May I sit, sir?'

He dropped gracefully into a chair, without waiting for permission, and, having hitched up the knees of his trousers, beamed winningly atthe manager. 

'A deplorable affair, ' he said, with a shake of his head. 'Extremelydeplorable. We must not judge these rough, uneducated men too harshly, however. In a time of excitement the emotions of the lower classes areeasily stirred. Where you or I would--'

Mr Bickersdyke interrupted. 

'I do not wish for any more buffoonery, Mr Smith--'

Psmith raised a pained pair of eyebrows. 

'Buffoonery, sir!'

'I cannot understand what made you act as you did last night, unlessyou are perfectly mad, as I am beginning to think. '

'But, surely, sir, there was nothing remarkable in my behaviour? When amerchant has attached himself to your collar, can you do less thansmite him on the other cheek? I merely acted in self-defence. You sawfor yourself--'

'You know what I am alluding to. Your behaviour during my speech. '

'An excellent speech, ' murmured Psmith courteously. 

'Well?' said Mr Bickersdyke. 

'It was, perhaps, mistaken zeal on my part, sir, but you must rememberthat I acted purely from the best motives. It seemed to me--'

'That is enough, Mr Smith. I confess that I am absolutely at a loss tounderstand you--'

'It is too true, sir, ' sighed Psmith. 

'You seem, ' continued Mr Bickersdyke, warming to his subject, andturning gradually a richer shade of purple, 'you seem to be determinedto endeavour to annoy me. ' ('No no, ' from Psmith. ) 'I can only assumethat you are not in your right senses. You follow me about in my club--'

'Our club, sir, ' murmured Psmith. 

'Be good enough not to interrupt me, Mr Smith. You dog my footsteps inmy club--'

'Purely accidental, sir. We happen to meet--that is all. '

'You attend meetings at which I am speaking, and behave in a perfectlyimbecile manner. '

Psmith moaned slightly. 

'It may seem humorous to you, but I can assure you it is extremely badpolicy on your part. The New Asiatic Bank is no place for humour, and Ithink--'

'Excuse me, sir, ' said Psmith. 

The manager started at the familiar phrase. The plum-colour of hiscomplexion deepened. 

'I entirely agree with you, sir, ' said Psmith, 'that this bank is noplace for humour. '

'Very well, then. You--'

'And I am never humorous in it. I arrive punctually in the morning, and I work steadily and earnestly till my labours are completed. Ithink you will find, on inquiry, that Mr Rossiter is satisfied with mywork. '

'That is neither here nor--'

'Surely, sir, ' said Psmith, 'you are wrong? Surely your jurisdictionceases after office hours? Any little misunderstanding we may have atthe close of the day's work cannot affect you officially. You couldnot, for instance, dismiss me from the service of the bank if we werepartners at bridge at the club and I happened to revoke. '

'I can dismiss you, let me tell you, Mr Smith, for studied insolence, whether in the office or not. '

'I bow to superior knowledge, ' said Psmith politely, 'but I confess Idoubt it. And, ' he added, 'there is another point. May I continue tosome extent?'

'If you have anything to say, say it. '

Psmith flung one leg over the other, and settled his collar. 

'It is perhaps a delicate matter, ' he said, 'but it is best to befrank. We should have no secrets. To put my point quite clearly, I mustgo back a little, to the time when you paid us that very welcomeweek-end visit at our house in August. '

'If you hope to make capital out of the fact that I have been a guestof your father--'

'Not at all, ' said Psmith deprecatingly. 'Not at all. You do not takeme. My point is this. I do not wish to revive painful memories, but itcannot be denied that there was, here and there, some slight bickeringbetween us on that occasion. The fault, ' said Psmith magnanimously, 'was possibly mine. I may have been too exacting, too capricious. Perhaps so. However, the fact remains that you conceived the happynotion of getting me into this bank, under the impression that, once Iwas in, you would be able to--if I may use the expression--give mebeans. You said as much to me, if I remember. I hate to say it, butdon't you think that if you give me the sack, although my work issatisfactory to the head of my department, you will be by way ofadmitting that you bit off rather more than you could chew? I merelymake the suggestion. '

Mr Bickersdyke half rose from his chair. 

'You--'

'Just so, just so, but--to return to the main point--don't you? Thewhole painful affair reminds me of the story of Agesilaus and thePetulant Pterodactyl, which as you have never heard, I will now proceedto relate. Agesilaus--'

Mr Bickersdyke made a curious clucking noise in his throat. 

'I am boring you, ' said Psmith, with ready tact. 'Suffice it to saythat Comrade Agesilaus interfered with the pterodactyl, which was doinghim no harm; and the intelligent creature, whose motto was "Nemo meimpune lacessit", turned and bit him. Bit him good and hard, so thatAgesilaus ever afterwards had a distaste for pterodactyls. Hisreluctance to disturb them became quite a byword. The Society papers ofthe period frequently commented upon it. Let us draw the parallel. '

Here Mr Bickersdyke, who had been clucking throughout this speech, essayed to speak; but Psmith hurried on. 

'You are Agesilaus, ' he said. 'I am the Petulant Pterodactyl. You, if Imay say so, butted in of your own free will, and took me from a happyhome, simply in order that you might get me into this place under you, and give me beans. But, curiously enough, the major portion of thatvegetable seems to be coming to you. Of course, you can administer thepush if you like; but, as I say, it will be by way of a confession thatyour scheme has sprung a leak. Personally, ' said Psmith, as one friendto another, 'I should advise you to stick it out. You never know whatmay happen. At any moment I may fall from my present high standard ofindustry and excellence; and then you have me, so to speak, where thehair is crisp. '

He paused. Mr Bickersdyke's eyes, which even in their normal stateprotruded slightly, now looked as if they might fall out at any moment. His face had passed from the plum-coloured stage to something beyond. Every now and then he made the clucking noise, but except for that hewas silent. Psmith, having waited for some time for something in theshape of comment or criticism on his remarks, now rose. 

'It has been a great treat to me, this little chat, ' he said affably, 'but I fear that I must no longer allow purely social enjoyments tointerfere with my commercial pursuits. With your permission, I willrejoin my department, where my absence is doubtless already causingcomment and possibly dismay. But we shall be meeting at the clubshortly, I hope. Good-bye, sir, good-bye. '

He left the room, and walked dreamily back to the Postage Department, leaving the manager still staring glassily at nothing. 

13. Mike is Moved On

This episode may be said to have concluded the first act of thecommercial drama in which Mike and Psmith had been cast for leadingparts. And, as usually happens after the end of an act, there was alull for a while until things began to work up towards another climax. Mike, as day succeeded day, began to grow accustomed to the life of thebank, and to find that it had its pleasant side after all. Whenever anumber of people are working at the same thing, even though that thingis not perhaps what they would have chosen as an object in life, ifleft to themselves, there is bound to exist an atmosphere ofgood-fellowship; something akin to, though a hundred times weakerthan, the public school spirit. Such a community lacks the main motiveof the public school spirit, which is pride in the school and itsachievements. Nobody can be proud of the achievements of a bank. Whenthe business of arranging a new Japanese loan was given to the NewAsiatic Bank, its employees did not stand on stools, and cheer. On thecontrary, they thought of the extra work it would involve; and theycursed a good deal, though there was no denying that it was a big thingfor the bank--not unlike winning the Ashburton would be to a school. There is a cold impersonality about a bank. A school is a living thing. 

Setting aside this important difference, there was a good deal of thepublic school about the New Asiatic Bank. The heads of departments werenot quite so autocratic as masters, and one was treated more on agrown-up scale, as man to man; but, nevertheless, there remained adistinct flavour of a school republic. Most of the men in the bank, with the exception of certain hard-headed Scotch youths drafted in fromother establishments in the City, were old public school men. Mikefound two Old Wrykinians in the first week. Neither was well known tohim. They had left in his second year in the team. But it was pleasantto have them about, and to feel that they had been educated at theright place. 

As far as Mike's personal comfort went, the presence of these twoWrykinians was very much for the good. Both of them knew all about hiscricket, and they spread the news. The New Asiatic Bank, like mostLondon banks, was keen on sport, and happened to possess a cricket teamwhich could make a good game with most of the second-rank clubs. Thedisappearance to the East of two of the best bats of the previousseason caused Mike's advent to be hailed with a good deal ofenthusiasm. Mike was a county man. He had only played once for hiscounty, it was true, but that did not matter. He had passed the barrierwhich separates the second-class bat from the first-class, and the bankwelcomed him with awe. County men did not come their way every day. 

Mike did not like being in the bank, considered in the light of acareer. But he bore no grudge against the inmates of the bank, such ashe had borne against the inmates of Sedleigh. He had looked on thelatter as bound up with the school, and, consequently, enemies. Hisfellow workers in the bank he regarded as companions in misfortune. They were all in the same boat together. There were men from Tonbridge, Dulwich, Bedford, St Paul's, and a dozen other schools. One or two ofthem he knew by repute from the pages of Wisden. Bannister, hischeerful predecessor in the Postage Department, was the Bannister, herecollected now, who had played for Geddington against Wrykyn in hissecond year in the Wrykyn team. Munroe, the big man in the FixedDeposits, he remembered as leader of the Ripton pack. Every day broughtfresh discoveries of this sort, and each made Mike more reconciled tohis lot. They were a pleasant set of fellows in the New Asiatic Bank, and but for the dreary outlook which the future held--for Mike, unlikemost of his follow workers, was not attracted by the idea of a life inthe East--he would have been very fairly content. 

The hostility of Mr Bickersdyke was a slight drawback. Psmith haddeveloped a habit of taking Mike with him to the club of an evening;and this did not do anything towards wiping out of the manager's mindthe recollection of his former passage of arms with the Old Wrykinian. The glass remaining Set Fair as far as Mr Rossiter's approval wasconcerned, Mike was enabled to keep off the managerial carpet to agreat extent; but twice, when he posted letters without going throughthe preliminary formality of stamping them, Mr Bickersdyke hadopportunities of which he availed himself. But for these incidents lifewas fairly enjoyable. Owing to Psmith's benevolent efforts, the PostageDepartment became quite a happy family, and ex-occupants of the postagedesk, Bannister especially, were amazed at the change that had comeover Mr Rossiter. He no longer darted from his lair like a pouncingpanther. To report his subordinates to the manager seemed now to be alost art with him. The sight of Psmith and Mr Rossiter proceeding highand disposedly to a mutual lunch became quite common, and ceased toexcite remark. 

'By kindness, ' said Psmith to Mike, after one of these expeditions. 'Bytact and kindness. That is how it is done. I do not despair of trainingComrade Rossiter one of these days to jump through paper hoops. '

So that, altogether, Mike's life in the bank had become very fairlypleasant. 

Out of office-hours he enjoyed himself hugely. London was strange tohim, and with Psmith as a companion, he extracted a vast deal ofentertainment from it. Psmith was not unacquainted with the West End, and he proved an excellent guide. At first Mike expostulated withunfailing regularity at the other's habit of paying for everything, butPsmith waved aside all objections with languid firmness. 

'I need you, Comrade Jackson, ' he said, when Mike lodged a protest onfinding himself bound for the stalls for the second night insuccession. 'We must stick together. As my confidential secretary andadviser, your place is by my side. Who knows but that between the actstonight I may not be seized with some luminous thought? Could I utterthis to my next-door neighbour or the programme-girl? Stand by me, Comrade Jackson, or we are undone. '

So Mike stood by him. 

By this time Mike had grown so used to his work that he could tell towithin five minutes when a rush would come; and he was able to spend agood deal of his time reading a surreptitious novel behind a pile ofledgers, or down in the tea-room. The New Asiatic Bank supplied tea toits employees. In quality it was bad, and the bread-and-butterassociated with it was worse. But it had the merit of giving one anexcuse for being away from one's desk. There were large printed noticesall over the tea-room, which was in the basement, informing gentlementhat they were only allowed ten minutes for tea, but one took just aslong as one thought the head of one's department would stand, fromtwenty-five minutes to an hour and a quarter. 

This state of things was too good to last. Towards the beginning of theNew Year a new man arrived, and Mike was moved on to anotherdepartment. 

14. Mr Waller Appears in a New Light

The department into which Mike was sent was the Cash, or, to be moreexact, that section of it which was known as Paying Cashier. Theimportant task of shooting doubloons across the counter did not belongto Mike himself, but to Mr Waller. Mike's work was less ostentatious, and was performed with pen, ink, and ledgers in the background. Occasionally, when Mr Waller was out at lunch, Mike had to act assubstitute for him, and cash cheques; but Mr Waller always went out ata slack time, when few customers came in, and Mike seldom had any verystartling sum to hand over. 

He enjoyed being in the Cash Department. He liked Mr Waller. The workwas easy; and when he did happen to make mistakes, they were correctedpatiently by the grey-bearded one, and not used as levers for boostinghim into the presence of Mr Bickersdyke, as they might have been insome departments. The cashier seemed to have taken a fancy to Mike; andMike, as was usually the way with him when people went out of their wayto be friendly, was at his best. Mike at his ease and unsuspicious ofhostile intentions was a different person from Mike with his pricklesout. 

Psmith, meanwhile, was not enjoying himself. It was an unheard-ofthing, he said, depriving a man of his confidential secretary withoutso much as asking his leave. 

'It has caused me the greatest inconvenience, ' he told Mike, driftinground in a melancholy way to the Cash Department during a slack spellone afternoon. 'I miss you at every turn. Your keen intelligence andready sympathy were invaluable to me. Now where am I? In the cart. Ievolved a slightly bright thought on life just now. There was nobody totell it to except the new man. I told it him, and the fool gaped. Itell you, Comrade Jackson, I feel like some lion that has been robbedof its cub. I feel as Marshall would feel if they took Snelgrove awayfrom him, or as Peace might if he awoke one morning to find Plentygone. Comrade Rossiter does his best. We still talk brokenly aboutManchester United--they got routed in the first round of the Cupyesterday and Comrade Rossiter is wearing black--but it is not thesame. I try work, but that is no good either. From ledger to ledgerthey hurry me, to stifle my regret. And when they win a smile from me, they think that I forget. But I don't. I am a broken man. That newexhibit they've got in your place is about as near to the Extreme Edgeas anything I've ever seen. One of Nature's blighters. Well, well, Imust away. Comrade Rossiter awaits me. '

Mike's successor, a youth of the name of Bristow, was causing Psmith agreat deal of pensive melancholy. His worst defect--which he could nothelp--was that he was not Mike. His others--which he could--werenumerous. His clothes were cut in a way that harrowed Psmith's sensitivesoul every time he looked at them. The fact that he wore detachablecuffs, which he took off on beginning work and stacked in a glisteningpile on the desk in front of him, was no proof of innate viciousness ofdisposition, but it prejudiced the Old Etonian against him. It was partof Psmith's philosophy that a man who wore detachable cuffs had passedbeyond the limit of human toleration. In addition, Bristow wore a smallblack moustache and a ring and that, as Psmith informed Mike, put thelid on it. 

Mike would sometimes stroll round to the Postage Department to listento the conversations between the two. Bristow was always friendlinessitself. He habitually addressed Psmith as Smithy, a fact whichentertained Mike greatly but did not seem to amuse Psmith to anyoverwhelming extent. On the other hand, when, as he generally did, hecalled Mike 'Mister Cricketer', the humour of the thing appeared toelude Mike, though the mode of address always drew from Psmith a pale, wan smile, as of a broken heart made cheerful against its owninclination. 

The net result of the coming of Bristow was that Psmith spent most ofhis time, when not actually oppressed by a rush of work, in theprecincts of the Cash Department, talking to Mike and Mr Waller. Thelatter did not seem to share the dislike common among the other headsof departments of seeing his subordinates receiving visitors. Unlessthe work was really heavy, in which case a mild remonstrance escapedhim, he offered no objection to Mike being at home to Psmith. It wasthis tolerance which sometimes got him into trouble with MrBickersdyke. The manager did not often perambulate the office, but hedid occasionally, and the interview which ensued upon his findingHutchinson, the underling in the Cash Department at that time, with hisstool tilted comfortably against the wall, reading the sporting newsfrom a pink paper to a friend from the Outward Bills Department who layluxuriously on the floor beside him, did not rank among Mr Waller'spleasantest memories. But Mr Waller was too soft-hearted to interferewith his assistants unless it was absolutely necessary. The truth ofthe matter was that the New Asiatic Bank was over-staffed. There weretoo many men for the work. The London branch of the bank was reallyonly a nursery. New men were constantly wanted in the Eastern branches, so they had to be put into the London branch to learn the business, whether there was any work for them to do or not. 

It was after one of these visits of Psmith's that Mr Waller displayed anew and unsuspected side to his character. Psmith had come round in astate of some depression to discuss Bristow, as usual. Bristow, itseemed, had come to the bank that morning in a fancy waistcoat of soemphatic a colour-scheme that Psmith stoutly refused to sit in the samedepartment with it. 

'What with Comrades Bristow and Bickersdyke combined, ' said Psmithplaintively, 'the work is becoming too hard for me. The whisper isbeginning to circulate, "Psmith's number is up--As a reformer he ismerely among those present. He is losing his dash. " But what can I do?I cannot keep an eye on both of them at the same time. The moment Iconcentrate myself on Comrade Bickersdyke for a brief spell, and seemto be doing him a bit of good, what happens? Why, Comrade Bristowsneaks off and buys a sort of woollen sunset. I saw the thingunexpectedly. I tell you I was shaken. It is the suddenness of thatwaistcoat which hits you. It's discouraging, this sort of thing. I tryalways to think well of my fellow man. As an energetic Socialist, I domy best to see the good that is in him, but it's hard. ComradeBristow's the most striking argument against the equality of man I'veever come across. '

Mr Waller intervened at this point. 

'I think you must really let Jackson go on with his work, Smith, ' hesaid. 'There seems to be too much talking. '

'My besetting sin, ' said Psmith sadly. 'Well, well, I will go back anddo my best to face it, but it's a tough job. '

He tottered wearily away in the direction of the Postage Department. 

'Oh, Jackson, ' said Mr Waller, 'will you kindly take my place for a fewminutes? I must go round and see the Inward Bills about something. Ishall be back very soon. '

Mike was becoming accustomed to deputizing for the cashier for shortspaces of time. It generally happened that he had to do so once ortwice a day. Strictly speaking, perhaps, Mr Waller was wrong to leavesuch an important task as the actual cashing of cheques to aninexperienced person of Mike's standing; but the New Asiatic Bankdiffered from most banks in that there was not a great deal ofcross-counter work. People came in fairly frequently to cash chequesof two or three pounds, but it was rare that any very large dealingstook place. 

Having completed his business with the Inward Bills, Mr Waller made hisway back by a circuitous route, taking in the Postage desk. 

He found Psmith with a pale, set face, inscribing figures in a ledger. The Old Etonian greeted him with the faint smile of a persecuted saintwho is determined to be cheerful even at the stake. 

'Comrade Bristow, ' he said. 

'Hullo, Smithy?' said the other, turning. 

Psmith sadly directed Mr Waller's attention to the waistcoat, which wascertainly definite in its colouring. 

'Nothing, ' said Psmith. 'I only wanted to look at you. '

'Funny ass, ' said Bristow, resuming his work. Psmith glanced at MrWaller, as who should say, 'See what I have to put up with. And yet Ido not give way. '

'Oh--er--Smith, ' said Mr Waller, 'when you were talking to Jackson justnow--'

'Say no more, ' said Psmith. 'It shall not occur again. Why should Idislocate the work of your department in my efforts to win asympathetic word? I will bear Comrade Bristow like a man here. Afterall, there are worse things at the Zoo. '

'No, no, ' said Mr Waller hastily, 'I did not mean that. By all meanspay us a visit now and then, if it does not interfere with your ownwork. But I noticed just now that you spoke to Bristow as ComradeBristow. '

'It is too true, ' said Psmith. 'I must correct myself of the habit. Hewill be getting above himself. '

'And when you were speaking to Jackson, you spoke of yourself as aSocialist. '

'Socialism is the passion of my life, ' said Psmith. 

Mr Waller's face grew animated. He stammered in his eagerness. 

'I am delighted, ' he said. 'Really, I am delighted. I also--'

'A fellow worker in the Cause?' said Psmith. 

'Er--exactly. '

Psmith extended his hand gravely. Mr Waller shook it with enthusiasm. 

'I have never liked to speak of it to anybody in the office, ' said MrWaller, 'but I, too, am heart and soul in the movement. '

'Yours for the Revolution?' said Psmith. 

'Just so. Just so. Exactly. I was wondering--the fact is, I am in thehabit of speaking on Sundays in the open air, and--'

'Hyde Park?'

'No. No. Clapham Common. It is--er--handier for me where I live. Now, as you are interested in the movement, I was thinking that perhaps youmight care to come and hear me speak next Sunday. Of course, if youhave nothing better to do. '

'I should like to excessively, ' said Psmith. 

'Excellent. Bring Jackson with you, and both of you come to supperafterwards, if you will. '

'Thanks very much. '

'Perhaps you would speak yourself?'

'No, ' said Psmith. 'No. I think not. My Socialism is rather of thepractical sort. I seldom speak. But it would be a treat to listen toyou. What--er--what type of oratory is yours?'

'Oh, well, ' said Mr Waller, pulling nervously at his beard, 'of courseI--. Well, I am perhaps a little bitter--'

'Yes, yes. '

'A little mordant and ironical. '

'You would be, ' agreed Psmith. 'I shall look forward to Sunday withevery fibre quivering. And Comrade Jackson shall be at my side. '

'Excellent, ' said Mr Waller. 'I will go and tell him now. '

15. Stirring Times on the Common

'The first thing to do, ' said Psmith, 'is to ascertain that such aplace as Clapham Common really exists. One has heard of it, of course, but has its existence ever been proved? I think not. Havingaccomplished that, we must then try to find out how to get to it. Ishould say at a venture that it would necessitate a sea-voyage. On theother hand, Comrade Waller, who is a native of the spot, seems to findno difficulty in rolling to the office every morning. Therefore--youfollow me, Jackson?--it must be in England. In that case, we will takea taximeter cab, and go out into the unknown, hand in hand, trusting toluck. '

'I expect you could get there by tram, ' said Mike. 

Psmith suppressed a slight shudder. 

'I fear, Comrade Jackson, ' he said, 'that the old noblesse obligetraditions of the Psmiths would not allow me to do that. No. We willstroll gently, after a light lunch, to Trafalgar Square, and hail ataxi. '

'Beastly expensive. '

'But with what an object! Can any expenditure be called excessive whichenables us to hear Comrade Waller being mordant and ironical at theother end?'

'It's a rum business, ' said Mike. 'I hope the dickens he won't mix usup in it. We should look frightful fools. '

'I may possibly say a few words, ' said Psmith carelessly, 'if thespirit moves me. Who am I that I should deny people a simple pleasure?'

Mike looked alarmed. 

'Look here, ' he said, 'I say, if you _are_ going to play the goat, for goodness' sake don't go lugging me into it. I've got heaps oftroubles without that. '

Psmith waved the objection aside. 

'You, ' he said, 'will be one of the large, and, I hope, interestedaudience. Nothing more. But it is quite possible that the spirit maynot move me. I may not feel inspired to speak. I am not one of thosewho love speaking for speaking's sake. If I have no message for themany-headed, I shall remain silent. '

'Then I hope the dickens you won't have, ' said Mike. Of all things hehated most being conspicuous before a crowd--except at cricket, whichwas a different thing--and he had an uneasy feeling that Psmith wouldrather like it than otherwise. 

'We shall see, ' said Psmith absently. 'Of course, if in the vein, Imight do something big in the way of oratory. I am a plain, blunt man, but I feel convinced that, given the opportunity, I should haul up myslacks to some effect. But--well, we shall see. We shall see. '

And with this ghastly state of doubt Mike had to be content. 

It was with feelings of apprehension that he accompanied Psmith fromthe flat to Trafalgar Square in search of a cab which should conveythem to Clapham Common. 

They were to meet Mr Waller at the edge of the Common nearest theold town of Clapham. On the journey down Psmith was inclined to be_debonnaire_. Mike, on the other hand, was silent and apprehensive. He knew enough of Psmith to know that, if half an opportunity wereoffered him, he would extract entertainment from this affair afterhis own fashion; and then the odds were that he himself would bedragged into it. Perhaps--his scalp bristled at the mere idea--hewould even be let in for a speech. 

This grisly thought had hardly come into his head, when Psmith spoke. 

'I'm not half sure, ' he said thoughtfully, 'I sha'n't call on you for aspeech, Comrade Jackson. '

'Look here, Psmith--' began Mike agitatedly. 

'I don't know. I think your solid, incisive style would rather go downwith the masses. However, we shall see, we shall see. '

Mike reached the Common in a state of nervous collapse. 

Mr Waller was waiting for them by the railings near the pond. Theapostle of the Revolution was clad soberly in black, except for a tieof vivid crimson. His eyes shone with the light of enthusiasm, vastlydifferent from the mild glow of amiability which they exhibited for sixdays in every week. The man was transformed. 

'Here you are, ' he said. 'Here you are. Excellent. You are in goodtime. Comrades Wotherspoon and Prebble have already begun to speak. Ishall commence now that you have come. This is the way. Over by thesetrees. '

They made their way towards a small clump of trees, near which afair-sized crowd had already begun to collect. Evidently listeningto the speakers was one of Clapham's fashionable Sunday amusements. MrWaller talked and gesticulated incessantly as he walked. Psmith'sdemeanour was perhaps a shade patronizing, but he displayed interest. Mike proceeded to the meeting with the air of an about-to-be-washed dog. He was loathing the whole business with a heartiness worthy of a bettercause. Somehow, he felt he was going to be made to look a fool beforethe afternoon was over. But he registered a vow that nothing shoulddrag him on to the small platform which had been erected for thebenefit of the speaker. 

As they drew nearer, the voices of Comrades Wotherspoon and Prebblebecame more audible. They had been audible all the time, very much so, but now they grew in volume. Comrade Wotherspoon was a tall, thin manwith side-whiskers and a high voice. He scattered his aitches as afountain its sprays in a strong wind. He was very earnest. ComradePrebble was earnest, too. Perhaps even more so than ComradeWotherspoon. He was handicapped to some extent, however, by not havinga palate. This gave to his profoundest thoughts a certain weirdness, asif they had been uttered in an unknown tongue. The crowd was thickestround his platform. The grown-up section plainly regarded him as acomedian, pure and simple, and roared with happy laughter when he urgedthem to march upon Park Lane and loot the same without mercy orscruple. The children were more doubtful. Several had broken down, andbeen led away in tears. 

When Mr Waller got up to speak on platform number three, his audienceconsisted at first only of Psmith, Mike, and a fox-terrier. Graduallyhowever, he attracted others. After wavering for a while, the crowdfinally decided that he was worth hearing. He had a method of his own. Lacking the natural gifts which marked Comrade Prebble out as anentertainer, he made up for this by his activity. Where his colleaguesstood comparatively still, Mr Waller behaved with the vivacitygenerally supposed to belong only to peas on shovels and cats on hotbricks. He crouched to denounce the House of Lords. He bounded fromside to side while dissecting the methods of the plutocrats. During animpassioned onslaught on the monarchical system he stood on one leg andhopped. This was more the sort of thing the crowd had come to see. Comrade Wotherspoon found himself deserted, and even Comrade Prebble'sshortcomings in the way of palate were insufficient to keep his flocktogether. The entire strength of the audience gathered in front of thethird platform. 

Mike, separated from Psmith by the movement of the crowd, listened witha growing depression. That feeling which attacks a sensitive personsometimes at the theatre when somebody is making himself ridiculous onthe stage--the illogical feeling that it is he and not the actor who isfloundering--had come over him in a wave. He liked Mr Waller, and itmade his gorge rise to see him exposing himself to the jeers of acrowd. The fact that Mr Waller himself did not know that they werejeers, but mistook them for applause, made it no better. Mike feltvaguely furious. 

His indignation began to take a more personal shape when the speaker, branching off from the main subject of Socialism, began to touch ontemperance. There was no particular reason why Mr Waller should haveintroduced the subject of temperance, except that he happened to be anenthusiast. He linked it on to his remarks on Socialism by attributingthe lethargy of the masses to their fondness for alcohol; and thecrowd, which had been inclined rather to pat itself on the back duringthe assaults on Rank and Property, finding itself assailed in its turn, resented it. They were there to listen to speakers telling them thatthey were the finest fellows on earth, not pointing out their littlefailings to them. The feeling of the meeting became hostile. The jeersgrew more frequent and less good-tempered. 

'Comrade Waller means well, ' said a voice in Mike's ear, 'but if heshoots it at them like this much more there'll be a bit of animbroglio. '

'Look here, Smith, ' said Mike quickly, 'can't we stop him? These chapsare getting fed up, and they look bargees enough to do anything. They'll be going for him or something soon. '

'How can we switch off the flow? I don't see. The man is wound up. Hemeans to get it off his chest if it snows. I feel we are by way ofbeing in the soup once more, Comrade Jackson. We can only sit tight andlook on. '

The crowd was becoming more threatening every minute. A group of youngmen of the loafer class who stood near Mike were especially fertile incomment. Psmith's eyes were on the speaker; but Mike was watching thisgroup closely. Suddenly he saw one of them, a thick-set youth wearing acloth cap and no collar, stoop. 

When he rose again there was a stone in his hand. 

The sight acted on Mike like a spur. Vague rage against nobody inparticular had been simmering in him for half an hour. Now itconcentrated itself on the cloth-capped one. 

Mr Waller paused momentarily before renewing his harangue. The man inthe cloth cap raised his hand. There was a swirl in the crowd, and thefirst thing that Psmith saw as he turned was Mike seizing the would-bemarksman round the neck and hurling him to the ground, after the mannerof a forward at football tackling an opponent during a line-out fromtouch. 

There is one thing which will always distract the attention of a crowdfrom any speaker, and that is a dispute between two of its units. MrWaller's views on temperance were forgotten in an instant. The audiencesurged round Mike and his opponent. 

The latter had scrambled to his feet now, and was looking round for hisassailant. 

'That's 'im, Bill!' cried eager voices, indicating Mike. 

''E's the bloke wot 'it yer, Bill, ' said others, more precise indetail. 

Bill advanced on Mike in a sidelong, crab-like manner. 

''Oo're you, I should like to know?' said Bill. 

Mike, rightly holding that this was merely a rhetorical question andthat Bill had no real thirst for information as to his family history, made no reply. Or, rather, the reply he made was not verbal. He waitedtill his questioner was within range, and then hit him in the eye. Areply far more satisfactory, if not to Bill himself, at any rate to theinterested onlookers, than any flow of words. 

A contented sigh went up from the crowd. Their Sunday afternoon wasgoing to be spent just as they considered Sunday afternoons should bespent. 

'Give us your coat, ' said Psmith briskly, 'and try and get it overquick. Don't go in for any fancy sparring. Switch it on, all you know, from the start. I'll keep a thoughtful eye open to see that none of hisfriends and relations join in. '

Outwardly Psmith was unruffled, but inwardly he was not feeling socomposed. An ordinary turn-up before an impartial crowd which could berelied upon to preserve the etiquette of these matters was one thing. As regards the actual little dispute with the cloth-capped Bill, hefelt that he could rely on Mike to handle it satisfactorily. But therewas no knowing how long the crowd would be content to remain merespectators. There was no doubt which way its sympathies lay. Bill, nowstripped of his coat and sketching out in a hoarse voice a scenario ofwhat he intended to do--knocking Mike down and stamping him into themud was one of the milder feats he promised to perform for theentertainment of an indulgent audience--was plainly the popularfavourite. 

Psmith, though he did not show it, was more than a little apprehensive. 

Mike, having more to occupy his mind in the immediate present, was notanxious concerning the future. He had the great advantage over Psmithof having lost his temper. Psmith could look on the situation as awhole, and count the risks and possibilities. Mike could only see Billshuffling towards him with his head down and shoulders bunched. 

'Gow it, Bill!' said someone. 

'Pliy up, the Arsenal!' urged a voice on the outskirts of the crowd. 

A chorus of encouragement from kind friends in front: 'Step up, Bill!'

And Bill stepped. 

16. Further Developments

Bill (surname unknown) was not one of your ultra-scientific fighters. He did not favour the American crouch and the artistic feint. He had astyle wholly his own. It seemed to have been modelled partly on atortoise and partly on a windmill. His head he appeared to be trying toconceal between his shoulders, and he whirled his arms alternately incircular sweeps. 

Mike, on the other hand, stood upright and hit straight, with theresult that he hurt his knuckles very much on his opponent's skull, without seeming to disturb the latter to any great extent. In theprocess he received one of the windmill swings on the left ear. Thecrowd, strong pro-Billites, raised a cheer. 

This maddened Mike. He assumed the offensive. Bill, satisfied for themoment with his success, had stepped back, and was indulging in somefancy sparring, when Mike sprang upon him like a panther. Theyclinched, and Mike, who had got the under grip, hurled Bill forciblyagainst a stout man who looked like a publican. The two fell in a heap, Bill underneath. 

At the same time Bill's friends joined in. 

The first intimation Mike had of this was a violent blow across theshoulders with a walking-stick. Even if he had been wearing hisovercoat, the blow would have hurt. As he was in his jacket it hurtmore than anything he had ever experienced in his life. He leapt upwith a yell, but Psmith was there before him. Mike saw his assailantlift the stick again, and then collapse as the old Etonian's right tookhim under the chin. 

He darted to Psmith's side. 

'This is no place for us, ' observed the latter sadly. 'Shift ho, Ithink. Come on. '

They dashed simultaneously for the spot where the crowd was thinnest. The ring which had formed round Mike and Bill had broken up as theresult of the intervention of Bill's allies, and at the spot for whichthey ran only two men were standing. And these had apparently made uptheir minds that neutrality was the best policy, for they made nomovement to stop them. Psmith and Mike charged through the gap, andraced for the road. 

The suddenness of the move gave them just the start they needed. Mikelooked over his shoulder. The crowd, to a man, seemed to be following. Bill, excavated from beneath the publican, led the field. Lying a goodsecond came a band of three, and after them the rest in a bunch. 

They reached the road in this order. 

Some fifty yards down the road was a stationary tram. In the ordinarycourse of things it would probably have moved on long before Psmith andMike could have got to it; but the conductor, a man with sporting bloodin him, seeing what appeared to be the finish of some Marathon Race, refrained from giving the signal, and moved out into the road toobserve events more clearly, at the same time calling to the driver, who joined him. Passengers on the roof stood up to get a good view. There was some cheering. 

Psmith and Mike reached the tram ten yards to the good; and, if it hadbeen ready to start then, all would have been well. But Bill and hisfriends had arrived while the driver and conductor were both out in theroad. 

The affair now began to resemble the doings of Horatius on the bridge. Psmith and Mike turned to bay on the platform at the foot of the tramsteps. Bill, leading by three yards, sprang on to it, grabbed Mike, andfell with him on to the road. Psmith, descending with a dignitysomewhat lessened by the fact that his hat was on the side of his head, was in time to engage the runners-up. 

Psmith, as pugilist, lacked something of the calm majesty whichcharacterized him in the more peaceful moments of life, but he wasundoubtedly effective. Nature had given him an enormous reach and alightness on his feet remarkable in one of his size; and at some timein his career he appeared to have learned how to use his hands. Thefirst of the three runners, the walking-stick manipulator, had themisfortune to charge straight into the old Etonian's left. It was awell-timed blow, and the force of it, added to the speed at which thevictim was running, sent him on to the pavement, where he spun roundand sat down. In the subsequent proceedings he took no part. 

The other two attacked Psmith simultaneously, one on each side. Indoing so, the one on the left tripped over Mike and Bill, who werestill in the process of sorting themselves out, and fell, leavingPsmith free to attend to the other. He was a tall, weedy youth. Hisconspicuous features were a long nose and a light yellow waistcoat. Psmith hit him on the former with his left and on the latter with hisright. The long youth emitted a gurgle, and collided with Bill, who hadwrenched himself free from Mike and staggered to his feet. Bill, havingreceived a second blow in the eye during the course of his interview onthe road with Mike, was not feeling himself. Mistaking the other for anenemy, he proceeded to smite him in the parts about the jaw. He hadjust upset him, when a stern official voice observed, ''Ere, now, what's all this?'

There is no more unfailing corrective to a scene of strife than the'What's all this?' of the London policeman. Bill abandoned hisintention of stamping on the prostrate one, and the latter, sitting up, blinked and was silent. 

'What's all this?' asked the policeman again. Psmith, adjusting his hatat the correct angle again, undertook the explanations. 

'A distressing scene, officer, ' he said. 'A case of that unbridledbrawling which is, alas, but too common in our London streets. Thesetwo, possibly till now the closest friends, fall out over some point, probably of the most trivial nature, and what happens? They brawl. They--'

'He 'it me, ' said the long youth, dabbing at his face with ahandkerchief and pointing an accusing finger at Psmith, who regardedhim through his eyeglass with a look in which pity and censure werenicely blended. 

Bill, meanwhile, circling round restlessly, in the apparent hope ofgetting past the Law and having another encounter with Mike, expressedhimself in a stream of language which drew stern reproof from theshocked constable. 

'You 'op it, ' concluded the man in blue. 'That's what you do. You 'opit. '

'I should, ' said Psmith kindly. 'The officer is speaking in your bestinterests. A man of taste and discernment, he knows what is best. Hisadvice is good, and should be followed. '

The constable seemed to notice Psmith for the first time. He turned andstared at him. Psmith's praise had not had the effect of softening him. His look was one of suspicion. 

'And what might _you_ have been up to?' he inquired coldly. 'Thisman says you hit him. '

Psmith waved the matter aside. 

'Purely in self-defence, ' he said, 'purely in self-defence. What elsecould the man of spirit do? A mere tap to discourage an aggressivemovement. '

The policeman stood silent, weighing matters in the balance. Heproduced a notebook and sucked his pencil. Then he called the conductorof the tram as a witness. 

'A brainy and admirable step, ' said Psmith, approvingly. 'This rugged, honest man, all unused to verbal subtleties, shall give us his plainaccount of what happened. After which, as I presume this tram--littleas I know of the habits of trams--has got to go somewhere today, Iwould suggest that we all separated and moved on. '

He took two half-crowns from his pocket, and began to clink themmeditatively together. A slight softening of the frigidity of theconstable's manner became noticeable. There was a milder beam in theeyes which gazed into Psmith's. 

Nor did the conductor seem altogether uninfluenced by the sight. 

The conductor deposed that he had bin on the point of pushing on, seeing as how he'd hung abart long enough, when he see'd them twogents, the long 'un with the heye-glass (Psmith bowed) and t'other 'un, a-legging of it dahn the road towards him, with the other blokespelting after 'em. He added that, when they reached the trem, the twogents had got aboard, and was then set upon by the blokes. And afterthat, he concluded, well, there was a bit of a scrap, and that's how itwas. 

'Lucidly and excellently put, ' said Psmith. 'That is just how it was. Comrade Jackson, I fancy we leave the court without a stain on ourcharacters. We win through. Er--constable, we have given you a greatdeal of trouble. Possibly--?'

'Thank you, sir. ' There was a musical clinking. 'Now then, all of you, you 'op it. You're all bin poking your noses in 'ere long enough. Popoff. Get on with that tram, conductor. ' Psmith and Mike settledthemselves in a seat on the roof. When the conductor came along, Psmithgave him half a crown, and asked after his wife and the little ones athome. The conductor thanked goodness that he was a bachelor, punchedthe tickets, and retired. 

'Subject for a historical picture, ' said Psmith. 'Wounded leaving thefield after the Battle of Clapham Common. How are your injuries, Comrade Jackson?'

'My back's hurting like blazes, ' said Mike. 'And my ear's all sorewhere that chap got me. Anything the matter with you?'

'Physically, ' said Psmith, 'no. Spiritually much. Do you realize, Comrade Jackson, the thing that has happened? I am riding in a tram. I, Psmith, have paid a penny for a ticket on a tram. If this should getabout the clubs! I tell you, Comrade Jackson, no such crisis has everoccurred before in the course of my career. '

'You can always get off, you know, ' said Mike. 

'He thinks of everything, ' said Psmith, admiringly. 'You have touchedthe spot with an unerring finger. Let us descend. I observe in thedistance a cab. That looks to me more the sort of thing we want. Let usgo and parley with the driver. '

17. Sunday Supper

The cab took them back to the flat, at considerable expense, and Psmithrequested Mike to make tea, a performance in which he himself wasinterested purely as a spectator. He had views on the subject oftea-making which he liked to expound from an armchair or sofa, but henever got further than this. Mike, his back throbbing dully from theblow he had received, and feeling more than a little sore all over, prepared the Etna, fetched the milk, and finally produced the finishedarticle. 

Psmith sipped meditatively. 

'How pleasant, ' he said, 'after strife is rest. We shouldn't haveappreciated this simple cup of tea had our sensibilities remainedunstirred this afternoon. We can now sit at our ease, like warriorsafter the fray, till the time comes for setting out to Comrade Waller'sonce more. '

Mike looked up. 

'What! You don't mean to say you're going to sweat out to Claphamagain?'

'Undoubtedly. Comrade Waller is expecting us to supper. '

'What absolute rot! We can't fag back there. '

'Noblesse oblige. The cry has gone round the Waller household, "Jacksonand Psmith are coming to supper, " and we cannot disappoint them now. Already the fatted blanc-mange has been killed, and the table creaksbeneath what's left of the midday beef. We must be there; besides, don't you want to see how the poor man is? Probably we shall find himin the act of emitting his last breath. I expect he was lynched by theenthusiastic mob. '

'Not much, ' grinned Mike. 'They were too busy with us. All right, I'llcome if you really want me to, but it's awful rot. '

One of the many things Mike could never understand in Psmith was hisfondness for getting into atmospheres that were not his own. He wouldgo out of his way to do this. Mike, like most boys of his age, wasnever really happy and at his ease except in the presence of those ofhis own years and class. Psmith, on the contrary, seemed to be bored bythem, and infinitely preferred talking to somebody who lived in quiteanother world. Mike was not a snob. He simply had not the ability to beat his ease with people in another class from his own. He did not knowwhat to talk to them about, unless they were cricket professionals. With them he was never at a loss. 

But Psmith was different. He could get on with anyone. He seemed tohave the gift of entering into their minds and seeing things from theirpoint of view. 

As regarded Mr Waller, Mike liked him personally, and was prepared, aswe have seen, to undertake considerable risks in his defence; but heloathed with all his heart and soul the idea of supper at his house. Heknew that he would have nothing to say. Whereas Psmith gave him theimpression of looking forward to the thing as a treat. 

 * * * * *

The house where Mr Waller lived was one of a row of semi-detachedvillas on the north side of the Common. The door was opened to them bytheir host himself. So far from looking battered and emitting lastbreaths, he appeared particularly spruce. He had just returned fromChurch, and was still wearing his gloves and tall hat. He squeaked withsurprise when he saw who were standing on the mat. 

'Why, dear me, dear me, ' he said. 'Here you are! I have been wonderingwhat had happened to you. I was afraid that you might have beenseriously hurt. I was afraid those ruffians might have injured you. When last I saw you, you were being--'

'Chivvied, ' interposed Psmith, with dignified melancholy. 'Do not letus try to wrap the fact up in pleasant words. We were being chivvied. We were legging it with the infuriated mob at our heels. An ignominiousposition for a Shropshire Psmith, but, after all, Napoleon did thesame. '

'But what happened? I could not see. I only know that quite suddenlythe people seemed to stop listening to me, and all gathered round youand Jackson. And then I saw that Jackson was engaged in a fight with ayoung man. '

'Comrade Jackson, I imagine, having heard a great deal about all menbeing equal, was anxious to test the theory, and see whether ComradeBill was as good a man as he was. The experiment was broken offprematurely, but I personally should be inclined to say that ComradeJackson had a shade the better of the exchanges. '

Mr Waller looked with interest at Mike, who shuffled and felt awkward. He was hoping that Psmith would say nothing about the reason of hisengaging Bill in combat. He had an uneasy feeling that Mr Waller'sgratitude would be effusive and overpowering, and he did not wish topose as the brave young hero. There are moments when one does not feelequal to the _role_. 

Fortunately, before Mr Waller had time to ask any further questions, the supper-bell sounded, and they went into the dining-room. 

Sunday supper, unless done on a large and informal scale, is probablythe most depressing meal in existence. There is a chill discomfort inthe round of beef, an icy severity about the open jam tart. Theblancmange shivers miserably. 

Spirituous liquor helps to counteract the influence of these things, and so does exhilarating conversation. Unfortunately, at Mr Waller'stable there was neither. The cashier's views on temperance were notmerely for the platform; they extended to the home. And the company wasnot of the exhilarating sort. Besides Psmith and Mike and their host, there were four people present--Comrade Prebble, the orator; a youngman of the name of Richards; Mr Waller's niece, answering to the nameof Ada, who was engaged to Mr Richards; and Edward. 

Edward was Mr Waller's son. He was ten years old, wore a very tightEton suit, and had the peculiarly loathsome expression which a snubnose sometimes gives to the young. 

It would have been plain to the most casual observer that Mr Waller wasfond and proud of his son. The cashier was a widower, and after fiveminutes' acquaintance with Edward, Mike felt strongly that Mrs Wallerwas the lucky one. Edward sat next to Mike, and showed a tendency toconcentrate his conversation on him. Psmith, at the opposite end of thetable, beamed in a fatherly manner upon the pair through his eyeglass. 

Mike got on with small girls reasonably well. He preferred them at adistance, but, if cornered by them, could put up a fairly good show. Small boys, however, filled him with a sort of frozen horror. It washis view that a boy should not be exhibited publicly until he reachedan age when he might be in the running for some sort of colours at apublic school. 

Edward was one of those well-informed small boys. He opened on Mikewith the first mouthful. 

'Do you know the principal exports of Marseilles?' he inquired. 

'What?' said Mike coldly. 

'Do you know the principal exports of Marseilles? I do. '

'Oh?' said Mike. 

'Yes. Do you know the capital of Madagascar?'

Mike, as crimson as the beef he was attacking, said he did not. 

'I do. '

'Oh?' said Mike. 

'Who was the first king--'

'You mustn't worry Mr Jackson, Teddy, ' said Mr Waller, with a touch ofpride in his voice, as who should say 'There are not many boys of hisage, I can tell you, who _could_ worry you with questions likethat. '

'No, no, he likes it, ' said Psmith, unnecessarily. 'He likes it. Ialways hold that much may be learned by casual chit-chat across thedinner-table. I owe much of my own grasp of--'

'I bet _you_ don't know what's the capital of Madagascar, 'interrupted Mike rudely. 

'I do, ' said Edward. 'I can tell you the kings of Israel?' he added, turning to Mike. He seemed to have no curiosity as to the extent ofPsmith's knowledge. Mike's appeared to fascinate him. 

Mike helped himself to beetroot in moody silence. 

His mouth was full when Comrade Prebble asked him a question. ComradePrebble, as has been pointed out in an earlier part of the narrative, was a good chap, but had no roof to his mouth. 

'I beg your pardon?' said Mike. 

Comrade Prebble repeated his observation. Mike looked helplessly atPsmith, but Psmith's eyes were on his plate. 

Mike felt he must venture on some answer. 

'No, ' he said decidedly. 

Comrade Prebble seemed slightly taken aback. There was an awkwardpause. Then Mr Waller, for whom his fellow Socialist's methods ofconversation held no mysteries, interpreted. 

'The mustard, Prebble? Yes, yes. Would you mind passing Prebble themustard, Mr Jackson?'

'Oh, sorry, ' gasped Mike, and, reaching out, upset the water-jug intothe open jam-tart. 

Through the black mist which rose before his eyes as he leaped to hisfeet and stammered apologies came the dispassionate voice of MasterEdward Waller reminding him that mustard was first introduced into Peruby Cortez. 

His host was all courtesy and consideration. He passed the matter offgenially. But life can never be quite the same after you have upset awater-jug into an open jam-tart at the table of a comparative stranger. Mike's nerve had gone. He ate on, but he was a broken man. 

At the other end of the table it became gradually apparent that thingswere not going on altogether as they should have done. There was a sortof bleakness in the atmosphere. Young Mr Richards was looking like astuffed fish, and the face of Mr Waller's niece was cold and set. 

'Why, come, come, Ada, ' said Mr Waller, breezily, 'what's the matter?You're eating nothing. What's George been saying to you?' he addedjocularly. 

'Thank you, uncle Robert, ' replied Ada precisely, 'there's nothing thematter. Nothing that Mr Richards can say to me can upset me. '

'Mr Richards!' echoed Mr Waller in astonishment. How was he to knowthat, during the walk back from church, the world had been transformed, George had become Mr Richards, and all was over?

'I assure you, Ada--' began that unfortunate young man. Ada turned afrigid shoulder towards him. 

'Come, come, ' said Mr Waller disturbed. 'What's all this? What's allthis?'

His niece burst into tears and left the room. 

If there is anything more embarrassing to a guest than a family row, wehave yet to hear of it. Mike, scarlet to the extreme edges of his ears, concentrated himself on his plate. Comrade Prebble made a great manyremarks, which were probably illuminating, if they could have beenunderstood. Mr Waller looked, astonished, at Mr Richards. Mr Richards, pink but dogged, loosened his collar, but said nothing. Psmith, leaningforward, asked Master Edward Waller his opinion on the Licensing Bill. 

'We happened to have a word or two, ' said Mr Richards at length, 'onthe way home from church on the subject of Women's Suffrage. '

'That fatal topic!' murmured Psmith. 

'In Australia--' began Master Edward Waller. 

'I was rayther--well, rayther facetious about it, ' continued MrRichards. 

Psmith clicked his tongue sympathetically. 

'In Australia--' said Edward. 

'I went talking on, laughing and joking, when all of a sudden she flewout at me. How was I to know she was 'eart and soul in the movement?You never told me, ' he added accusingly to his host. 

'In Australia--' said Edward. 

'I'll go and try and get her round. How was I to know?'

Mr Richards thrust back his chair and bounded from the room. 

'Now, iawinyaw, iear oiler--' said Comrade Prebble judicially, but wasinterrupted. 

'How very disturbing!' said Mr Waller. 'I am so sorry that this shouldhave happened. Ada is such a touchy, sensitive girl. She--'

'In Australia, ' said Edward in even tones, 'they've _got_ Women'sSuffrage already. Did _you_ know that?' he said to Mike. 

Mike made no answer. His eyes were fixed on his plate. A bead ofperspiration began to roll down his forehead. If his feelings couldhave been ascertained at that moment, they would have been summed up inthe words, 'Death, where is thy sting?'

18. Psmith Makes a Discovery

'Women, ' said Psmith, helping himself to trifle, and speaking with theair of one launched upon his special subject, 'are, one must recollect, like--like--er, well, in fact, just so. Passing on lightly from thatconclusion, let us turn for a moment to the Rights of Property, inconnection with which Comrade Prebble and yourself had so much that wasinteresting to say this afternoon. Perhaps you'--he bowed in ComradePrebble's direction--'would resume, for the benefit of Comrade Jackson--anovice in the Cause, but earnest--your very lucid--'

Comrade Prebble beamed, and took the floor. Mike began to realize that, till now, he had never known what boredom meant. There had been momentsin his life which had been less interesting than other moments, butnothing to touch this for agony. Comrade Prebble's address streamed onlike water rushing over a weir. Every now and then there was a word ortwo which was recognizable, but this happened so rarely that itamounted to little. Sometimes Mr Waller would interject a remark, butnot often. He seemed to be of the opinion that Comrade Prebble's wasthe master mind and that to add anything to his views would be in thenature of painting the lily and gilding the refined gold. Mike himselfsaid nothing. Psmith and Edward were equally silent. The former satlike one in a trance, thinking his own thoughts, while Edward, who, prospecting on the sideboard, had located a rich biscuit-mine, was toooccupied for speech. 

After about twenty minutes, during which Mike's discomfort changed to adull resignation, Mr Waller suggested a move to the drawing-room, whereAda, he said, would play some hymns. 

The prospect did not dazzle Mike, but any change, he thought, must befor the better. He had sat staring at the ruin of the blancmange solong that it had begun to hypnotize him. Also, the move had theexcellent result of eliminating the snub-nosed Edward, who was sent tobed. His last words were in the form of a question, addressed to Mike, on the subject of the hypotenuse and the square upon the same. 

'A remarkably intelligent boy, ' said Psmith. 'You must let him come totea at our flat one day. I may not be in myself--I have many dutieswhich keep me away--but Comrade Jackson is sure to be there, and willbe delighted to chat with him. '

On the way upstairs Mike tried to get Psmith to himself for a moment tosuggest the advisability of an early departure; but Psmith was in closeconversation with his host. Mike was left to Comrade Prebble, who, apparently, had only touched the fringe of his subject in his lecturein the dining-room. 

When Mr Waller had predicted hymns in the drawing-room, he had been toosanguine (or too pessimistic). Of Ada, when they arrived, there were nosigns. It seemed that she had gone straight to bed. Young Mr Richardswas sitting on the sofa, moodily turning the leaves of a photographalbum, which contained portraits of Master Edward Waller ingeometrically progressing degrees of repulsiveness--here, in frocks, looking like a gargoyle; there, in sailor suit, looking like nothing onearth. The inspection of these was obviously deepening Mr Richards'gloom, but he proceeded doggedly with it. 

Comrade Prebble backed the reluctant Mike into a corner, and, like theAncient Mariner, held him with a glittering eye. Psmith and Mr Waller, in the opposite corner, were looking at something with their headsclose together. Mike definitely abandoned all hope of a rescue fromPsmith, and tried to buoy himself up with the reflection that thiscould not last for ever. 

Hours seemed to pass, and then at last he heard Psmith's voice sayinggood-bye to his host. 

He sprang to his feet. Comrade Prebble was in the middle of a sentence, but this was no time for polished courtesy. He felt that he must getaway, and at once. 'I fear, ' Psmith was saying, 'that we must tearourselves away. We have greatly enjoyed our evening. You must look usup at our flat one day, and bring Comrade Prebble. If I am not in, Comrade Jackson is certain to be, and he will be more than delighted tohear Comrade Prebble speak further on the subject of which he is such amaster. ' Comrade Prebble was understood to say that he would certainlycome. Mr Waller beamed. Mr Richards, still steeped in gloom, shookhands in silence. 

Out in the road, with the front door shut behind them, Mike spoke hismind. 

'Look here, Smith, ' he said definitely, 'if being your confidentialsecretary and adviser is going to let me in for any more of that sortof thing, you can jolly well accept my resignation. '

'The orgy was not to your taste?' said Psmith sympathetically. 

Mike laughed. One of those short, hollow, bitter laughs. 

'I am at a loss, Comrade Jackson, ' said Psmith, 'to understand yourattitude. You fed sumptuously. You had fun with the crockery--thatknockabout act of yours with the water-jug was alone worth themoney--and you had the advantage of listening to the views of amaster of his subject. What more do you want?'

'What on earth did you land me with that man Prebble for?'

'Land you! Why, you courted his society. I had practically to drag youaway from him. When I got up to say good-bye, you were listening to himwith bulging eyes. I never saw such a picture of rapt attention. Do youmean to tell me, Comrade Jackson, that your appearance belied you, thatyou were not interested? Well, well. How we misread our fellowcreatures. '

'I think you might have come and lent a hand with Prebble. It was a bitthick. '

'I was too absorbed with Comrade Waller. We were talking of things ofvital moment. However, the night is yet young. We will take this cab, wend our way to the West, seek a cafe, and cheer ourselves with lightrefreshments. '

Arrived at a cafe whose window appeared to be a sort of museum of everykind of German sausage, they took possession of a vacant table andordered coffee. Mike soon found himself soothed by his brightsurroundings, and gradually his impressions of blancmange, Edward, andComrade Prebble faded from his mind. Psmith, meanwhile, was preservingan unusual silence, being deep in a large square book of the sort inwhich Press cuttings are pasted. As Psmith scanned its contents acurious smile lit up his face. His reflections seemed to be of anagreeable nature. 

'Hullo, ' said Mike, 'what have you got hold of there? Where did you getthat?'

'Comrade Waller very kindly lent it to me. He showed it to me aftersupper, knowing how enthusiastically I was attached to the Cause. Hadyou been less tensely wrapped up in Comrade Prebble's conversation, Iwould have desired you to step across and join us. However, you nowhave your opportunity. '

'But what is it?' asked Mike. 

'It is the record of the meetings of the Tulse Hill Parliament, ' saidPsmith impressively. 'A faithful record of all they said, all the votesof confidence they passed in the Government, and also all the nastyknocks they gave it from time to time. '

'What on earth's the Tulse Hill Parliament?'

'It is, alas, ' said Psmith in a grave, sad voice, 'no more. In life itwas beautiful, but now it has done the Tom Bowling act. It has gonealoft. We are dealing, Comrade Jackson, not with the live, vividpresent, but with the far-off, rusty past. And yet, in a way, there isa touch of the live, vivid present mixed up in it. '

'I don't know what the dickens you're talking about, ' said Mike. 'Let'shave a look, anyway. '

Psmith handed him the volume, and, leaning back, sipped his coffee, andwatched him. At first Mike's face was bored and blank, but suddenly aninterested look came into it. 

'Aha!' said Psmith. 

'Who's Bickersdyke? Anything to do with our Bickersdyke?'

'No other than our genial friend himself. '

Mike turned the pages, reading a line or two on each. 

'Hullo!' he said, chuckling. 'He lets himself go a bit, doesn't he!'

'He does, ' acknowledged Psmith. 'A fiery, passionate nature, that ofComrade Bickersdyke. '

'He's simply cursing the Government here. Giving them frightful beans. '

Psmith nodded. 

'I noticed the fact myself. '

'But what's it all about?'

'As far as I can glean from Comrade Waller, ' said Psmith, 'about twentyyears ago, when he and Comrade Bickersdyke worked hand-in-hand asfellow clerks at the New Asiatic, they were both members of the TulseHill Parliament, that powerful institution. At that time ComradeBickersdyke was as fruity a Socialist as Comrade Waller is now. Only, apparently, as he began to get on a bit in the world, he altered hisviews to some extent as regards the iniquity of freezing on to a decentshare of the doubloons. And that, you see, is where the dim and rustypast begins to get mixed up with the live, vivid present. If anytactless person were to publish those very able speeches made byComrade Bickersdyke when a bulwark of the Tulse Hill Parliament, ourrevered chief would be more or less caught bending, if I may employ theexpression, as regards his chances of getting in as Unionist candidateat Kenningford. You follow me, Watson? I rather fancy the light-heartedelectors of Kenningford, from what I have seen of their rather acutesense of humour, would be, as it were, all over it. It would be very, very trying for Comrade Bickersdyke if these speeches of his were toget about. '

'You aren't going to--!'

'I shall do nothing rashly. I shall merely place this handsome volumeamong my treasured books. I shall add it to my "Books that have helpedme" series. Because I fancy that, in an emergency, it may not be at alla bad thing to have about me. And now, ' he concluded, 'as the hour isgetting late, perhaps we had better be shoving off for home. '

19. The Illness of Edward

Life in a bank is at its pleasantest in the winter. When all the worldoutside is dark and damp and cold, the light and warmth of the placeare comforting. There is a pleasant air of solidity about the interiorof a bank. The green shaded lamps look cosy. And, the outside worldoffering so few attractions, the worker, perched on his stool, feelsthat he is not so badly off after all. It is when the days are long andthe sun beats hot on the pavement, and everything shouts to him howsplendid it is out in the country, that he begins to grow restless. 

Mike, except for a fortnight at the beginning of his career in the NewAsiatic Bank, had not had to stand the test of sunshine. At present, the weather being cold and dismal, he was almost entirely contented. Now that he had got into the swing of his work, the days passed veryquickly; and with his life after office-hours he had no fault to findat all. 

His life was very regular. He would arrive in the morning just in timeto sign his name in the attendance-book before it was removed to theaccountant's room. That was at ten o'clock. From ten to eleven he wouldpotter. There was nothing going on at that time in his department, andMr Waller seemed to take it for granted that he should stroll off tothe Postage Department and talk to Psmith, who had generally some freshgrievance against the ring-wearing Bristow to air. From eleven to halfpast twelve he would put in a little gentle work. Lunch, unless therewas a rush of business or Mr Waller happened to suffer from a spasm ofconscientiousness, could be spun out from half past twelve to two. Morework from two till half past three. From half past three till half pastfour tea in the tearoom, with a novel. And from half past four tillfive either a little more work or more pottering, according to whetherthere was any work to do or not. It was by no means an unpleasant modeof spending a late January day. 

Then there was no doubt that it was an interesting little community, that of the New Asiatic Bank. The curiously amateurish nature of theinstitution lent a certain air of light-heartedness to the place. Itwas not like one of those banks whose London office is their mainoffice, where stern business is everything and a man becomes a meremachine for getting through a certain amount of routine work. Theemployees of the New Asiatic Bank, having plenty of time on theirhands, were able to retain their individuality. They had leisure tothink of other things besides their work. Indeed, they had so muchleisure that it is a wonder they thought of their work at all. 

The place was full of quaint characters. There was West, who had beenrequested to leave Haileybury owing to his habit of borrowing horsesand attending meets in the neighbourhood, the same being always out ofbounds and necessitating a complete disregard of the rules respectingevening chapel and lock-up. He was a small, dried-up youth, with blackhair plastered down on his head. He went about his duties in a costumewhich suggested the sportsman of the comic papers. 

There was also Hignett, who added to the meagre salary allowed him bythe bank by singing comic songs at the minor music halls. He confidedto Mike his intention of leaving the bank as soon as he had made aname, and taking seriously to the business. He told him that he hadknocked them at the Bedford the week before, and in support of thestatement showed him a cutting from the Era, in which the writer saidthat 'Other acceptable turns were the Bounding Zouaves, Steingruber'sDogs, and Arthur Hignett. ' Mike wished him luck. 

And there was Raymond who dabbled in journalism and was the author of'Straight Talks to Housewives' in _Trifles_, under the pseudonymof 'Lady Gussie'; Wragge, who believed that the earth was flat, andaddressed meetings on the subject in Hyde Park on Sundays; and manyothers, all interesting to talk to of a morning when work was slack andtime had to be filled in. 

Mike found himself, by degrees, growing quite attached to the NewAsiatic Bank. 

One morning, early in February, he noticed a curious change in MrWaller. The head of the Cash Department was, as a rule, mildly cheerfulon arrival, and apt (excessively, Mike thought, though he alwayslistened with polite interest) to relate the most recent sayings anddoings of his snub-nosed son, Edward. No action of this young prodigywas withheld from Mike. He had heard, on different occasions, how hehad won a prize at his school for General Information (which Mike couldwell believe); how he had trapped young Mr Richards, now happilyreconciled to Ada, with an ingenious verbal catch; and how he had madea sequence of diverting puns on the name of the new curate, during thecourse of that cleric's first Sunday afternoon visit. 

On this particular day, however, the cashier was silent andabsent-minded. He answered Mike's good-morning mechanically, andsitting down at his desk, stared blankly across the building. Therewas a curiously grey, tired look on his face. 

Mike could not make it out. He did not like to ask if there wasanything the matter. Mr Waller's face had the unreasonable effect onhim of making him feel shy and awkward. Anything in the nature ofsorrow always dried Mike up and robbed him of the power of speech. Being naturally sympathetic, he had raged inwardly in many a crisis atthis devil of dumb awkwardness which possessed him and prevented himfrom putting his sympathy into words. He had always envied the cooingreadiness of the hero on the stage when anyone was in trouble. Hewondered whether he would ever acquire that knack of pouring out alimpid stream of soothing words on such occasions. At present he couldget no farther than a scowl and an almost offensive gruffness. 

The happy thought struck him of consulting Psmith. It was his hour forpottering, so he pottered round to the Postage Department, where hefound the old Etonian eyeing with disfavour a new satin tie whichBristow was wearing that morning for the first time. 

'I say, Smith, ' he said, 'I want to speak to you for a second. '

Psmith rose. Mike led the way to a quiet corner of the TelegramsDepartment. 

'I tell you, Comrade Jackson, ' said Psmith, 'I am hard pressed. Thefight is beginning to be too much for me. After a grim struggle, afterdays of unremitting toil, I succeeded yesterday in inducing the manBristow to abandon that rainbow waistcoat of his. Today I enter thebuilding, blythe and buoyant, worn, of course, from the long struggle, but seeing with aching eyes the dawn of another, better era, and thereis Comrade Bristow in a satin tie. It's hard, Comrade Jackson, it'shard, I tell you. '

'Look here, Smith, ' said Mike, 'I wish you'd go round to the Cash andfind out what's up with old Waller. He's got the hump about something. He's sitting there looking absolutely fed up with things. I hopethere's nothing up. He's not a bad sort. It would be rot if anythingrotten's happened. '

Psmith began to display a gentle interest. 

'So other people have troubles as well as myself, ' he murmuredmusingly. 'I had almost forgotten that. Comrade Waller's misfortunescannot but be trivial compared with mine, but possibly it will be aswell to ascertain their nature. I will reel round and make inquiries. '

'Good man, ' said Mike. 'I'll wait here. '

Psmith departed, and returned, ten minutes later, looking more seriousthan when he had left. 

'His kid's ill, poor chap, ' he said briefly. 'Pretty badly too, fromwhat I can gather. Pneumonia. Waller was up all night. He oughtn't tobe here at all today. He doesn't know what he's doing half the time. He's absolutely fagged out. Look here, you'd better nip back and do asmuch of the work as you can. I shouldn't talk to him much if I wereyou. Buck along. '

Mike went. Mr Waller was still sitting staring out across the aisle. There was something more than a little gruesome in the sight of him. Hewore a crushed, beaten look, as if all the life and fight had gone outof him. A customer came to the desk to cash a cheque. The cashiershovelled the money to him under the bars with the air of one whosemind is elsewhere. Mike could guess what he was feeling, and what hewas thinking about. The fact that the snub-nosed Edward was, withoutexception, the most repulsive small boy he had ever met in this world, where repulsive small boys crowd and jostle one another, did notinterfere with his appreciation of the cashier's state of mind. Mike'swas essentially a sympathetic character. He had the gift of intuitiveunderstanding, where people of whom he was fond were concerned. It wasthis which drew to him those who had intelligence enough to see beyondhis sometimes rather forbidding manner, and to realize that his bluntspeech was largely due to shyness. In spite of his prejudice againstEdward, he could put himself into Mr Waller's place, and see the thingfrom his point of view. 

Psmith's injunction to him not to talk much was unnecessary. Mike, asalways, was rendered utterly dumb by the sight of suffering. He sat athis desk, occupying himself as best he could with the driblets of workwhich came to him. 

Mr Waller's silence and absentness continued unchanged. The habit ofyears had made his work mechanical. Probably few of the customers whocame to cash cheques suspected that there was anything the matter withthe man who paid them their money. After all, most people look on thecashier of a bank as a sort of human slot-machine. You put in yourcheque, and out comes money. It is no affair of yours whether life istreating the machine well or ill that day. 

The hours dragged slowly by till five o'clock struck, and the cashier, putting on his coat and hat, passed silently out through the swingdoors. He walked listlessly. He was evidently tired out. 

Mike shut his ledger with a vicious bang, and went across to findPsmith. He was glad the day was over. 

20. Concerning a Cheque

Things never happen quite as one expects them to. Mike came to theoffice next morning prepared for a repetition of the previous day. Hewas amazed to find the cashier not merely cheerful, but evenexuberantly cheerful. Edward, it appeared, had rallied in theafternoon, and, when his father had got home, had been out of danger. He was now going along excellently, and had stumped Ada, who wasnursing him, with a question about the Thirty Years' War, only a fewminutes before his father had left to catch his train. The cashier wasoverflowing with happiness and goodwill towards his species. He greetedcustomers with bright remarks on the weather, and snappy views on theleading events of the day: the former tinged with optimism, the latterfull of a gentle spirit of toleration. His attitude towards the latestactions of His Majesty's Government was that of one who felt that, after all, there was probably some good even in the vilest of hisfellow creatures, if one could only find it. 

Altogether, the cloud had lifted from the Cash Department. All was joy, jollity, and song. 

'The attitude of Comrade Waller, ' said Psmith, on being informed of thechange, 'is reassuring. I may now think of my own troubles. ComradeBristow has blown into the office today in patent leather boots withwhite kid uppers, as I believe the technical term is. Add to that thefact that he is still wearing the satin tie, the waistcoat, and thering, and you will understand why I have definitely decided thismorning to abandon all hope of his reform. Henceforth my services, forwhat they are worth, are at the disposal of Comrade Bickersdyke. Mytime from now onward is his. He shall have the full educative value ofmy exclusive attention. I give Comrade Bristow up. Made straight forthe corner flag, you understand, ' he added, as Mr Rossiter emerged fromhis lair, 'and centred, and Sandy Turnbull headed a beautiful goal. Iwas just telling Jackson about the match against Blackburn Rovers, ' hesaid to Mr Rossiter. 

'Just so, just so. But get on with your work, Smith. We are a littlebehind-hand. I think perhaps it would be as well not to leave it justyet. '

'I will leap at it at once, ' said Psmith cordially. 

Mike went back to his department. 

The day passed quickly. Mr Waller, in the intervals of work, talked agood deal, mostly of Edward, his doings, his sayings, and hisprospects. The only thing that seemed to worry Mr Waller was theproblem of how to employ his son's almost superhuman talents to thebest advantage. Most of the goals towards which the average man strivesstruck him as too unambitious for the prodigy. 

By the end of the day Mike had had enough of Edward. He never wished tohear the name again. 

We do not claim originality for the statement that things never happenquite as one expects them to. We repeat it now because of its profoundtruth. The Edward's pneumonia episode having ended satisfactorily (or, rather, being apparently certain to end satisfactorily, for theinvalid, though out of danger, was still in bed), Mike looked forwardto a series of days unbroken by any but the minor troubles of life. Forthese he was prepared. What he did not expect was any big calamity. 

At the beginning of the day there were no signs of it. The sky was blueand free from all suggestions of approaching thunderbolts. Mr Waller, still chirpy, had nothing but good news of Edward. Mike went for hismorning stroll round the office feeling that things had settled downand had made up their mind to run smoothly. 

When he got back, barely half an hour later, the storm had burst. 

There was no one in the department at the moment of his arrival; but afew minutes later he saw Mr Waller come out of the manager's room, andmake his way down the aisle. 

It was his walk which first gave any hint that something was wrong. Itwas the same limp, crushed walk which Mike had seen when Edward'ssafety still hung in the balance. 

As Mr Waller came nearer, Mike saw that the cashier's face was deadlypale. 

Mr Waller caught sight of him and quickened his pace. 

'Jackson, ' he said. 

Mike came forward. 

'Do you--remember--' he spoke slowly, and with an effort, 'do youremember a cheque coming through the day before yesterday for a hundredpounds, with Sir John Morrison's signature?'

'Yes. It came in the morning, rather late. '

Mike remembered the cheque perfectly well, owing to the amount. It wasthe only three-figure cheque which had come across the counter duringthe day. It had been presented just before the cashier had gone out tolunch. He recollected the man who had presented it, a tallish man witha beard. He had noticed him particularly because of the contrastbetween his manner and that of the cashier. The former had been so verycheery and breezy, the latter so dazed and silent. 

'Why, ' he said. 

'It was a forgery, ' muttered Mr Waller, sitting down heavily. 

Mike could not take it in all at once. He was stunned. All he couldunderstand was that a far worse thing had happened than anything hecould have imagined. 

'A forgery?' he said. 

'A forgery. And a clumsy one. Oh it's hard. I should have seen it onany other day but that. I could not have missed it. They showed me thecheque in there just now. I could not believe that I had passed it. Idon't remember doing it. My mind was far away. I don't remember thecheque or anything about it. Yet there it is. '

Once more Mike was tongue-tied. For the life of him he could not thinkof anything to say. Surely, he thought, he could find _something_in the shape of words to show his sympathy. But he could find nothingthat would not sound horribly stilted and cold. He sat silent. 

'Sir John is in there, ' went on the cashier. 'He is furious. MrBickersdyke, too. They are both furious. I shall be dismissed. I shalllose my place. I shall be dismissed. ' He was talking more to himselfthan to Mike. It was dreadful to see him sitting there, all limp andbroken. 

'I shall lose my place. Mr Bickersdyke has wanted to get rid of me fora long time. He never liked me. I shall be dismissed. What can I do?I'm an old man. I can't make another start. I am good for nothing. Nobody will take an old man like me. '

His voice died away. There was a silence. Mike sat staring miserably infront of him. 

Then, quite suddenly, an idea came to him. The whole pressure of theatmosphere seemed to lift. He saw a way out. It was a curious crookedway, but at that moment it stretched clear and broad before him. Hefelt lighthearted and excited, as if he were watching the developmentof some interesting play at the theatre. 

He got up, smiling. 

The cashier did not notice the movement. Somebody had come in to cash acheque, and he was working mechanically. 

Mike walked up the aisle to Mr Bickersdyke's room, and went in. 

The manager was in his chair at the big table. Opposite him, facingslightly sideways, was a small, round, very red-faced man. MrBickersdyke was speaking as Mike entered. 

'I can assure you, Sir John--' he was saying. 

He looked up as the door opened. 

'Well, Mr Jackson?'

Mike almost laughed. The situation was tickling him. 

'Mr Waller has told me--' he began. 

'I have already seen Mr Waller. '

'I know. He told me about the cheque. I came to explain. '

'Explain?'

'Yes. He didn't cash it at all. '

'I don't understand you, Mr Jackson. '

'I was at the counter when it was brought in, ' said Mike. 'I cashed it. '

21. Psmith Makes Inquiries

Psmith, as was his habit of a morning when the fierce rush of hiscommercial duties had abated somewhat, was leaning gracefully againsthis desk, musing on many things, when he was aware that Bristow wasstanding before him. 

Focusing his attention with some reluctance upon this blot on thehorizon, he discovered that the exploiter of rainbow waistcoats andsatin ties was addressing him. 

'I say, Smithy, ' said Bristow. He spoke in rather an awed voice. 

'Say on, Comrade Bristow, ' said Psmith graciously. 'You have our ear. You would seem to have something on your chest in addition to thatNeapolitan ice garment which, I regret to see, you still flaunt. If itis one tithe as painful as that, you have my sympathy. Jerk it out, Comrade Bristow. '

'Jackson isn't half copping it from old Bick. '

'Isn't--? What exactly did you say?'

'He's getting it hot on the carpet. '

'You wish to indicate, ' said Psmith, 'that there is some slightdisturbance, some passing breeze between Comrades Jackson andBickersdyke?'

Bristow chuckled. 

'Breeze! Blooming hurricane, more like it. I was in Bick's room justnow with a letter to sign, and I tell you, the fur was flying all overthe bally shop. There was old Bick cursing for all he was worth, and alittle red-faced buffer puffing out his cheeks in an armchair. '

'We all have our hobbies, ' said Psmith. 

'Jackson wasn't saying much. He jolly well hadn't a chance. Old Bickwas shooting it out fourteen to the dozen. '

'I have been privileged, ' said Psmith, 'to hear Comrade Bickersdykespeak both in his sanctum and in public. He has, as you suggest, aready flow of speech. What, exactly was the cause of the turmoil?'

'I couldn't wait to hear. I was too jolly glad to get away. Old Bicklooked at me as if he could eat me, snatched the letter out of my hand, signed it, and waved his hand at the door as a hint to hop it. Which Ijolly well did. He had started jawing Jackson again before I was out ofthe room. '

'While applauding his hustle, ' said Psmith, 'I fear that I must takeofficial notice of this. Comrade Jackson is essentially a SensitivePlant, highly strung, neurotic. I cannot have his nervous system joltedand disorganized in this manner, and his value as a confidentialsecretary and adviser impaired, even though it be only temporarily. Imust look into this. I will go and see if the orgy is concluded. I willhear what Comrade Jackson has to say on the matter. I shall not actrashly, Comrade Bristow. If the man Bickersdyke is proved to have hadgood grounds for his outbreak, he shall escape uncensured. I may evenlook in on him and throw him a word of praise. But if I find, as Isuspect, that he has wronged Comrade Jackson, I shall be forced tospeak sharply to him. '

 * * * * *

Mike had left the scene of battle by the time Psmith reached the CashDepartment, and was sitting at his desk in a somewhat dazed condition, trying to clear his mind sufficiently to enable him to see exactly howmatters stood as concerned himself. He felt confused and rattled. Hehad known, when he went to the manager's room to make his statement, that there would be trouble. But, then, trouble is such an elasticword. It embraces a hundred degrees of meaning. Mike had expectedsentence of dismissal, and he had got it. So far he had nothing tocomplain of. But he had not expected it to come to him riding high onthe crest of a great, frothing wave of verbal denunciation. MrBickersdyke, through constantly speaking in public, had developed thehabit of fluent denunciation to a remarkable extent. He had thunderedat Mike as if Mike had been his Majesty's Government or the EncroachingAlien, or something of that sort. And that kind of thing is a littleoverwhelming at short range. Mike's head was still spinning. 

It continued to spin; but he never lost sight of the fact round whichit revolved, namely, that he had been dismissed from the service of thebank. And for the first time he began to wonder what they would sayabout this at home. 

Up till now the matter had seemed entirely a personal one. He hadcharged in to rescue the harassed cashier in precisely the same way asthat in which he had dashed in to save him from Bill, the Stone-FlingingScourge of Clapham Common. Mike's was one of those direct, honest mindswhich are apt to concentrate themselves on the crisis of the moment, and to leave the consequences out of the question entirely. 

What would they say at home? That was the point. 

Again, what could he do by way of earning a living? He did not knowmuch about the City and its ways, but he knew enough to understand thatsummary dismissal from a bank is not the best recommendation one canput forward in applying for another job. And if he did not get anotherjob in the City, what could he do? If it were only summer, he might gettaken on somewhere as a cricket professional. Cricket was his line. Hecould earn his pay at that. But it was very far from being summer. 

He had turned the problem over in his mind till his head ached, and hadeaten in the process one-third of a wooden penholder, when Psmitharrived. 

'It has reached me, ' said Psmith, 'that you and Comrade Bickersdykehave been seen doing the Hackenschmidt-Gotch act on the floor. When myinformant left, he tells me, Comrade B. Had got a half-Nelson on you, and was biting pieces out of your ear. Is this so?'

Mike got up. Psmith was the man, he felt, to advise him in this crisis. Psmith's was the mind to grapple with his Hard Case. 

'Look here, Smith, ' he said, 'I want to speak to you. I'm in a bit of ahole, and perhaps you can tell me what to do. Let's go out and have acup of coffee, shall we? I can't tell you about it here. '

'An admirable suggestion, ' said Psmith. 'Things in the PostageDepartment are tolerably quiescent at present. Naturally I shall bemissed, if I go out. But my absence will not spell irretrievable ruin, as it would at a period of greater commercial activity. ComradesRossiter and Bristow have studied my methods. They know how I likethings to be done. They are fully competent to conduct the business ofthe department in my absence. Let us, as you say, scud forth. We willgo to a Mecca. Why so-called I do not know, nor, indeed, do I ever hopeto know. There we may obtain, at a price, a passable cup of coffee, andyou shall tell me your painful story. '

The Mecca, except for the curious aroma which pervades all Meccas, wasdeserted. Psmith, moving a box of dominoes on to the next table, satdown. 

'Dominoes, ' he said, 'is one of the few manly sports which have neverhad great attractions for me. A cousin of mine, who secured his chessblue at Oxford, would, they tell me, have represented his University inthe dominoes match also, had he not unfortunately dislocated the radiusbone of his bazooka while training for it. Except for him, there hasbeen little dominoes talent in the Psmith family. Let us merely talk. What of this slight brass-rag-parting to which I alluded just now? Tellme all. '

He listened gravely while Mike related the incidents which had led upto his confession and the results of the same. At the conclusion of thenarrative he sipped his coffee in silence for a moment. 

'This habit of taking on to your shoulders the harvest of otherpeople's bloomers, ' he said meditatively, 'is growing upon you, ComradeJackson. You must check it. It is like dram-drinking. You begin in asmall way by breaking school rules to extract Comrade Jellicoe (perhapsthe supremest of all the blitherers I have ever met) from a hole. Ifyou had stopped there, all might have been well. But the thing, oncestarted, fascinated you. Now you have landed yourself with a splash inthe very centre of the Oxo in order to do a good turn to ComradeWaller. You must drop it, Comrade Jackson. When you were free andwithout ties, it did not so much matter. But now that you areconfidential secretary and adviser to a Shropshire Psmith, the thingmust stop. Your secretarial duties must be paramount. Nothing must beallowed to interfere with them. Yes. The thing must stop before it goestoo far. '

'It seems to me, ' said Mike, 'that it has gone too far. I've got thesack. I don't know how much farther you want it to go. '

Psmith stirred his coffee before replying. 

'True, ' he said, 'things look perhaps a shade rocky just now, but allis not yet lost. You must recollect that Comrade Bickersdyke spoke inthe heat of the moment. That generous temperament was stirred to itsdepths. He did not pick his words. But calm will succeed storm, and wemay be able to do something yet. I have some little influence withComrade Bickersdyke. Wrongly, perhaps, ' added Psmith modestly, 'hethinks somewhat highly of my judgement. If he sees that I am opposed tothis step, he may possibly reconsider it. What Psmith thinks today, ishis motto, I shall think tomorrow. However, we shall see. '

'I bet we shall!' said Mike ruefully. 

'There is, moreover, ' continued Psmith, 'another aspect to the affair. When you were being put through it, in Comrade Bickersdyke's inimitablybreezy manner, Sir John What's-his-name was, I am given to understand, present. Naturally, to pacify the aggrieved bart. , Comrade B. Had tolay it on regardless of expense. In America, as possibly you are aware, there is a regular post of mistake-clerk, whose duty it is to receivein the neck anything that happens to be coming along when customersmake complaints. He is hauled into the presence of the foamingcustomer, cursed, and sacked. The customer goes away appeased. Themistake-clerk, if the harangue has been unusually energetic, appliesfor a rise of salary. Now, possibly, in your case--'

'In my case, ' interrupted Mike, 'there was none of that rot. Bickersdyke wasn't putting it on. He meant every word. Why, dash itall, you know yourself he'd be only too glad to sack me, just to getsome of his own back with me. '

Psmith's eyes opened in pained surprise. 

'Get some of his own back!' he repeated. 

'Are you insinuating, Comrade Jackson, that my relations with ComradeBickersdyke are not of the most pleasant and agreeable nature possible?How do these ideas get about? I yield to nobody in my respect for ourmanager. I may have had occasion from time to time to correct him insome trifling matter, but surely he is not the man to let such a thingrankle? No! I prefer to think that Comrade Bickersdyke regards me ashis friend and well-wisher, and will lend a courteous ear to anyproposal I see fit to make. I hope shortly to be able to prove this toyou. I will discuss this little affair of the cheque with him at ourease at the club, and I shall be surprised if we do not come to somearrangement. '

'Look here, Smith, ' said Mike earnestly, 'for goodness' sake don't goplaying the goat. There's no earthly need for you to get lugged intothis business. Don't you worry about me. I shall be all right. '

'I think, ' said Psmith, 'that you will--when I have chatted withComrade Bickersdyke. '

22. And Take Steps

On returning to the bank, Mike found Mr Waller in the grip of apeculiarly varied set of mixed feelings. Shortly after Mike's departurefor the Mecca, the cashier had been summoned once more into thePresence, and had there been informed that, as apparently he had notbeen directly responsible for the gross piece of carelessness by whichthe bank had suffered so considerable a loss (here Sir John puffed outhis cheeks like a meditative toad), the matter, as far as he wasconcerned, was at an end. On the other hand--! Here Mr Waller washauled over the coals for Incredible Rashness in allowing a mere juniorsubordinate to handle important tasks like the paying out of money, andso on, till he felt raw all over. However, it was not dismissal. Thatwas the great thing. And his principal sensation was one of relief. 

Mingled with the relief were sympathy for Mike, gratitude to him forhaving given himself up so promptly, and a curiously dazed sensation, as if somebody had been hitting him on the head with a bolster. 

All of which emotions, taken simultaneously, had the effect ofrendering him completely dumb when he saw Mike. He felt that he did notknow what to say to him. And as Mike, for his part, simply wanted to belet alone, and not compelled to talk, conversation was at something ofa standstill in the Cash Department. 

After five minutes, it occurred to Mr Waller that perhaps the best planwould be to interview Psmith. Psmith would know exactly how mattersstood. He could not ask Mike point-blank whether he had been dismissed. But there was the probability that Psmith had been informed and wouldpass on the information. 

Psmith received the cashier with a dignified kindliness. 

'Oh, er, Smith, ' said Mr Waller, 'I wanted just to ask you aboutJackson. '

Psmith bowed his head gravely. 

'Exactly, ' he said. 'Comrade Jackson. I think I may say that you havecome to the right man. Comrade Jackson has placed himself in my hands, and I am dealing with his case. A somewhat tricky business, but I shallsee him through. '

'Has he--?' Mr Waller hesitated. 

'You were saying?' said Psmith. 

'Does Mr Bickersdyke intend to dismiss him?'

'At present, ' admitted Psmith, 'there is some idea of that descriptionfloating--nebulously, as it were--in Comrade Bickersdyke's mind. Indeed, from what I gather from my client, the push was actuallyadministered, in so many words. But tush! And possibly bah! we knowwhat happens on these occasions, do we not? You and I are students ofhuman nature, and we know that a man of Comrade Bickersdyke'swarm-hearted type is apt to say in the heat of the moment a great dealmore than he really means. Men of his impulsive character cannot helpexpressing themselves in times of stress with a certain generousstrength which those who do not understand them are inclined to take alittle too seriously. I shall have a chat with Comrade Bickersdyke atthe conclusion of the day's work, and I have no doubt that we shallboth laugh heartily over this little episode. '

Mr Waller pulled at his beard, with an expression on his face thatseemed to suggest that he was not quite so confident on this point. Hewas about to put his doubts into words when Mr Rossiter appeared, andPsmith, murmuring something about duty, turned again to his ledger. Thecashier drifted back to his own department. 

It was one of Psmith's theories of Life, which he was accustomed topropound to Mike in the small hours of the morning with his feet on themantelpiece, that the secret of success lay in taking advantage ofone's occasional slices of luck, in seizing, as it were, the happymoment. When Mike, who had had the passage to write out ten times atWrykyn on one occasion as an imposition, reminded him that Shakespearehad once said something about there being a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, &c. , Psmith had acknowledged with an easygrace that possibly Shakespeare _had_ got on to it first, and thatit was but one more proof of how often great minds thought alike. 

Though waiving his claim to the copyright of the maxim, he neverthelesshad a high opinion of it, and frequently acted upon it in the conductof his own life. 

Thus, when approaching the Senior Conservative Club at five o'clockwith the idea of finding Mr Bickersdyke there, he observed his quarryentering the Turkish Baths which stand some twenty yards from theclub's front door, he acted on his maxim, and decided, instead ofwaiting for the manager to finish his bath before approaching him onthe subject of Mike, to corner him in the Baths themselves. 

He gave Mr Bickersdyke five minutes' start. Then, reckoning that bythat time he would probably have settled down, he pushed open the doorand went in himself. And, having paid his money, and left his bootswith the boy at the threshold, he was rewarded by the sight of themanager emerging from a box at the far end of the room, clad in themottled towels which the bather, irrespective of his personal taste indress, is obliged to wear in a Turkish bath. 

Psmith made for the same box. Mr Bickersdyke's clothes lay at the headof one of the sofas, but nobody else had staked out a claim. Psmithtook possession of the sofa next to the manager's. Then, humminglightly, he undressed, and made his way downstairs to the Hot Rooms. Herather fancied himself in towels. There was something about them whichseemed to suit his figure. They gave him, he though, rather a_debonnaire_ look. He paused for a moment before the looking-glassto examine himself, with approval, then pushed open the door of the HotRooms and went in. 

23. Mr Bickersdyke Makes a Concession

Mr Bickersdyke was reclining in an easy-chair in the first room, staring before him in the boiled-fish manner customary in a TurkishBath. Psmith dropped into the next seat with a cheery 'Good evening. 'The manager started as if some firm hand had driven a bradawl into him. He looked at Psmith with what was intended to be a dignified stare. Butdignity is hard to achieve in a couple of parti-coloured towels. Thestare did not differ to any great extent from the conventionalboiled-fish look, alluded to above. 

Psmith settled himself comfortably in his chair. 'Fancy finding youhere, ' he said pleasantly. 'We seem always to be meeting. To me, ' headded, with a reassuring smile, 'it is a great pleasure. A very greatpleasure indeed. We see too little of each other during office hours. Not that one must grumble at that. Work before everything. You haveyour duties, I mine. It is merely unfortunate that those duties are notsuch as to enable us to toil side by side, encouraging each other withword and gesture. However, it is idle to repine. We must make the mostof these chance meetings when the work of the day is over. '

Mr Bickersdyke heaved himself up from his chair and took another at theopposite end of the room. Psmith joined him. 

'There's something pleasantly mysterious, to my mind, ' said hechattily, 'in a Turkish Bath. It seems to take one out of the hurry andbustle of the everyday world. It is a quiet backwater in the rushingriver of Life. I like to sit and think in a Turkish Bath. Except, ofcourse, when I have a congenial companion to talk to. As now. To me--'

Mr Bickersdyke rose, and went into the next room. 

'To me, ' continued Psmith, again following, and seating himself besidethe manager, 'there is, too, something eerie in these places. There isa certain sinister air about the attendants. They glide rather thanwalk. They say little. Who knows what they may be planning andplotting? That drip-drip again. It may be merely water, but how are weto know that it is not blood? It would be so easy to do away with a manin a Turkish Bath. Nobody has seen him come in. Nobody can trace him ifhe disappears. These are uncomfortable thoughts, Mr Bickersdyke. '

Mr Bickersdyke seemed to think them so. He rose again, and returned tothe first room. 

'I have made you restless, ' said Psmith, in a voice of self-reproach, when he had settled himself once more by the manager's side. 'I amsorry. I will not pursue the subject. Indeed, I believe that my fearsare unnecessary. Statistics show, I understand, that large numbers ofmen emerge in safety every year from Turkish Baths. There was anothermatter of which I wished to speak to you. It is a somewhat delicatematter, and I am only encouraged to mention it to you by the fact thatyou are so close a friend of my father's. '

Mr Bickersdyke had picked up an early edition of an evening paper, lefton the table at his side by a previous bather, and was to allappearances engrossed in it. Psmith, however, not discouraged, proceeded to touch upon the matter of Mike. 

'There was, ' he said, 'some little friction, I hear, in the officetoday in connection with a cheque. ' The evening paper hid the manager'sexpressive face, but from the fact that the hands holding it tightenedtheir grip Psmith deduced that Mr Bickersdyke's attention was notwholly concentrated on the City news. Moreover, his toes wriggled. Andwhen a man's toes wriggle, he is interested in what you are saying. 

'All these petty breezes, ' continued Psmith sympathetically, 'must bevery trying to a man in your position, a man who wishes to be leftalone in order to devote his entire thought to the niceties of thehigher Finance. It is as if Napoleon, while planning out some intricatescheme of campaign, were to be called upon in the midst of hismeditations to bully a private for not cleaning his buttons. Naturally, you were annoyed. Your giant brain, wrenched temporarily from itsproper groove, expended its force in one tremendous reprimand ofComrade Jackson. It was as if one had diverted some terrific electriccurrent which should have been controlling a vast system of machinery, and turned it on to annihilate a black-beetle. In the present case, ofcourse, the result is as might have been expected. Comrade Jackson, notrealizing the position of affairs, went away with the absurd idea thatall was over, that you meant all you said--briefly, that his number wasup. I assured him that he was mistaken, but no! He persisted indeclaring that all was over, that you had dismissed him from the bank. '

Mr Bickersdyke lowered the paper and glared bulbously at the oldEtonian. 

'Mr Jackson is perfectly right, ' he snapped. 'Of course I dismissedhim. '

'Yes, yes, ' said Psmith, 'I have no doubt that at the moment you didwork the rapid push. What I am endeavouring to point out is thatComrade Jackson is under the impression that the edict is permanent, that he can hope for no reprieve. '

'Nor can he. '

'You don't mean--'

'I mean what I say. '

'Ah, I quite understand, ' said Psmith, as one who sees that he mustmake allowances. 'The incident is too recent. The storm has not yet hadtime to expend itself. You have not had leisure to think the matterover coolly. It is hard, of course, to be cool in a Turkish Bath. Yourganglions are still vibrating. Later, perhaps--'

'Once and for all, ' growled Mr Bickersdyke, 'the thing is ended. MrJackson will leave the bank at the end of the month. We have no roomfor fools in the office. '

'You surprise me, ' said Psmith. 'I should not have thought that thestandard of intelligence in the bank was extremely high. With theexception of our two selves, I think that there are hardly any men ofreal intelligence on the staff. And comrade Jackson is improving everyday. Being, as he is, under my constant supervision he is rapidlydeveloping a stranglehold on his duties, which--'

'I have no wish to discuss the matter any further. '

'No, no. Quite so, quite so. Not another word. I am dumb. '

'There are limits you see, to the uses of impertinence, Mr Smith. '

Psmith started. 

'You are not suggesting--! You do not mean that I--!'

'I have no more to say. I shall be glad if you will allow me to read mypaper. '

Psmith waved a damp hand. 

'I should be the last man, ' he said stiffly, 'to force my conversationon another. I was under the impression that you enjoyed these littlechats as keenly as I did. If I was wrong--'

He relapsed into a wounded silence. Mr Bickersdyke resumed his perusalof the evening paper, and presently, laying it down, rose and made hisway to the room where muscular attendants were in waiting to performthat blend of Jiu-Jitsu and Catch-as-catch-can which is the mostvaluable and at the same time most painful part of a Turkish Bath. 

It was not till he was resting on his sofa, swathed from head to footin a sheet and smoking a cigarette, that he realized that Psmith wassharing his compartment. 

He made the unpleasant discovery just as he had finished his firstcigarette and lighted his second. He was blowing out the match whenPsmith, accompanied by an attendant, appeared in the doorway, andproceeded to occupy the next sofa to himself. All that feeling ofdreamy peace, which is the reward one receives for allowing oneself tobe melted like wax and kneaded like bread, left him instantly. He felthot and annoyed. To escape was out of the question. Once one has beenscientifically wrapped up by the attendant and placed on one's sofa, one is a fixture. He lay scowling at the ceiling, resolved to combatall attempt at conversation with a stony silence. 

Psmith, however, did not seem to desire conversation. He lay on hissofa motionless for a quarter of an hour, then reached out for a largebook which lay on the table, and began to read. 

When he did speak, he seemed to be speaking to himself. Every now andthen he would murmur a few words, sometimes a single name. In spite ofhimself, Mr Bickersdyke found himself listening. 

At first the murmurs conveyed nothing to him. Then suddenly a namecaught his ear. Strowther was the name, and somehow it suggestedsomething to him. He could not say precisely what. It seemed to touchsome chord of memory. He knew no one of the name of Strowther. He wassure of that. And yet it was curiously familiar. An unusual name, too. He could not help feeling that at one time he must have known it quitewell. 

'Mr Strowther, ' murmured Psmith, 'said that the hon. Gentleman'sremarks would have been nothing short of treason, if they had not beenso obviously the mere babblings of an irresponsible lunatic. Cries of"Order, order, " and a voice, "Sit down, fat-head!"'

For just one moment Mr Bickersdyke's memory poised motionless, like ahawk about to swoop. Then it darted at the mark. Everything came to himin a flash. The hands of the clock whizzed back. He was no longer MrJohn Bickersdyke, manager of the London branch of the New Asiatic Bank, lying on a sofa in the Cumberland Street Turkish Baths. He was JackBickersdyke, clerk in the employ of Messrs Norton and Biggleswade, standing on a chair and shouting 'Order! order!' in the Masonic Room ofthe 'Red Lion' at Tulse Hill, while the members of the Tulse HillParliament, divided into two camps, yelled at one another, and youngTom Barlow, in his official capacity as Mister Speaker, waved his armsdumbly, and banged the table with his mallet in his efforts to restorecalm. 

He remembered the whole affair as if it had happened yesterday. It hadbeen a speech of his own which had called forth the above expression ofopinion from Strowther. He remembered Strowther now, a pale, spectacledclerk in Baxter and Abrahams, an inveterate upholder of the throne, theHouse of Lords and all constituted authority. Strowther had objected tothe socialistic sentiments of his speech in connection with the Budget, and there had been a disturbance unparalleled even in the Tulse HillParliament, where disturbances were frequent and loud.... 

Psmith looked across at him with a bright smile. 'They report youverbatim, ' he said. 'And rightly. A more able speech I have seldomread. I like the bit where you call the Royal Family "blood-suckers". Even then, it seems you knew how to express yourself fluently andwell. '

Mr Bickersdyke sat up. The hands of the clock had moved again, and hewas back in what Psmith had called the live, vivid present. 

'What have you got there?' he demanded. 

'It is a record, ' said Psmith, 'of the meeting of an institution calledthe Tulse Hill Parliament. A bright, chatty little institution, too, ifone may judge by these reports. You in particular, if I may say so, appear to have let yourself go with refreshing vim. Your politicalviews have changed a great deal since those days, have they not? It isextremely interesting. A most fascinating study for political students. When I send these speeches of yours to the _Clarion_--'

Mr Bickersdyke bounded on his sofa. 

'What!' he cried. 

'I was saying, ' said Psmith, 'that the _Clarion_ will probablymake a most interesting comparison between these speeches and those youhave been making at Kenningford. '

'I--I--I forbid you to make any mention of these speeches. '

Psmith hesitated. 

'It would be great fun seeing what the papers said, ' he protested. 

'Great fun!'

'It is true, ' mused Psmith, 'that in a measure, it would dish you atthe election. From what I saw of those light-hearted lads atKenningford the other night, I should say they would be so amused thatthey would only just have enough strength left to stagger to the polland vote for your opponent. '

Mr Bickersdyke broke out into a cold perspiration. 

'I forbid you to send those speeches to the papers, ' he cried. 

Psmith reflected. 

'You see, ' he said at last, 'it is like this. The departure of ComradeJackson, my confidential secretary and adviser, is certain to plunge meinto a state of the deepest gloom. The only way I can see at present bywhich I can ensure even a momentary lightening of the inky cloud is thesending of these speeches to some bright paper like the _Clarion. _I feel certain that their comments would wring, at any rate, a sad, sweet smile from me. Possibly even a hearty laugh. I must, therefore, look on these very able speeches of yours in something of the light ofan antidote. They will stand between me and black depression. Withoutthem I am in the cart. With them I may possibly buoy myself up. '

Mr Bickersdyke shifted uneasily on his sofa. He glared at the floor. Then he eyed the ceiling as if it were a personal enemy of his. Finallyhe looked at Psmith. Psmith's eyes were closed in peaceful meditation. 

'Very well, ' said he at last. 'Jackson shall stop. '

Psmith came out of his thoughts with a start. 'You were observing--?'he said. 

'I shall not dismiss Jackson, ' said Mr Bickersdyke. 

Psmith smiled winningly. 

'Just as I had hoped, ' he said. 'Your very justifiable anger meltsbefore reflection. The storm subsides, and you are at leisure toexamine the matter dispassionately. Doubts begin to creep in. Possibly, you say to yourself, I have been too hasty, too harsh. Justice must betempered with mercy. I have caught Comrade Jackson bending, you add(still to yourself), but shall I press home my advantage tooruthlessly? No, you cry, I will abstain. And I applaud your action. Ilike to see this spirit of gentle toleration. It is bracing andcomforting. As for these excellent speeches, ' he added, 'I shall, ofcourse, no longer have any need of their consolation. I can lay themaside. The sunlight can now enter and illumine my life through moreordinary channels. The cry goes round, "Psmith is himself again. "'

Mr Bickersdyke said nothing. Unless a snort of fury may be counted asanything. 

24. The Spirit of Unrest

During the following fortnight, two things happened which materiallyaltered Mike's position in the bank. 

The first was that Mr Bickersdyke was elected a member of Parliament. He got in by a small majority amidst scenes of disorder of a natureunusual even in Kenningford. Psmith, who went down on the polling-dayto inspect the revels and came back with his hat smashed in, reportedthat, as far as he could see, the electors of Kenningford seemed to bein just that state of happy intoxication which might make them vote forMr Bickersdyke by mistake. Also it had been discovered, on the eve ofthe poll, that the bank manager's opponent, in his youth, had beeneducated at a school in Germany, and had subsequently spent two yearsat Heidelberg University. These damaging revelations were having amarked effect on the warm-hearted patriots of Kenningford, who were nowreferring to the candidate in thick but earnest tones as 'the GermanSpy'. 

'So that taking everything into consideration, ' said Psmith, summingup, 'I fancy that Comrade Bickersdyke is home. '

And the papers next day proved that he was right. 

'A hundred and fifty-seven, ' said Psmith, as he read his paper atbreakfast. 'Not what one would call a slashing victory. It is fortunatefor Comrade Bickersdyke, I think, that I did not send those very ablespeeches of his to the _Clarion'_. 

Till now Mike had been completely at a loss to understand why themanager had sent for him on the morning following the scene about thecheque, and informed him that he had reconsidered his decision todismiss him. Mike could not help feeling that there was more in thematter than met the eye. Mr Bickersdyke had not spoken as if it gavehim any pleasure to reprieve him. On the contrary, his manner wasdistinctly brusque. Mike was thoroughly puzzled. To Psmith's statement, that he had talked the matter over quietly with the manager and broughtthings to a satisfactory conclusion, he had paid little attention. Butnow he began to see light. 

'Great Scott, Smith, ' he said, 'did you tell him you'd send thosespeeches to the papers if he sacked me?'

Psmith looked at him through his eye-glass, and helped himself toanother piece of toast. 

'I am unable, ' he said, 'to recall at this moment the exact terms ofthe very pleasant conversation I had with Comrade Bickersdyke on theoccasion of our chance meeting in the Turkish Bath that afternoon; but, thinking things over quietly now that I have more leisure, I cannothelp feeling that he may possibly have read some such intention into mywords. You know how it is in these little chats, Comrade Jackson. Oneleaps to conclusions. Some casual word I happened to drop may havegiven him the idea you mention. At this distance of time it isimpossible to say with any certainty. Suffice it that all has endedwell. He _did_ reconsider his resolve. I shall be only too happyif it turns out that the seed of the alteration in his views was sownby some careless word of mine. Perhaps we shall never know. '

Mike was beginning to mumble some awkward words of thanks, when Psmithresumed his discourse. 

'Be that as it may, however, ' he said, 'we cannot but perceive thatComrade Bickersdyke's election has altered our position to some extent. As you have pointed out, he may have been influenced in this recentaffair by some chance remark of mine about those speeches. Now, however, they will cease to be of any value. Now that he is elected hehas nothing to lose by their publication. I mention this by way ofindicating that it is possible that, if another painful episode occurs, he may be more ruthless. '

'I see what you mean, ' said Mike. 'If he catches me on the hop again, he'll simply go ahead and sack me. '

'That, ' said Psmith, 'is more or less the position of affairs. '

The other event which altered Mike's life in the bank was his removalfrom Mr Waller's department to the Fixed Deposits. The work in theFixed Deposits was less pleasant, and Mr Gregory, the head of thedepartment was not of Mr Waller's type. Mr Gregory, before joining thehome-staff of the New Asiatic Bank, had spent a number of years with afirm in the Far East, where he had acquired a liver and a habit ofaddressing those under him in a way that suggested the mate of a trampsteamer. Even on the days when his liver was not troubling him, he wastruculent. And when, as usually happened, it did trouble him, he was aperfect fountain of abuse. Mike and he hated each other from the first. The work in the Fixed Deposits was not really difficult, when you gotthe hang of it, but there was a certain amount of confusion in it to abeginner; and Mike, in commercial matters, was as raw a beginner asever began. In the two other departments through which he had passed, he had done tolerably well. As regarded his work in the PostageDepartment, stamping letters and taking them down to the post officewas just about his form. It was the sort of work on which he couldreally get a grip. And in the Cash Department, Mr Waller's mildpatience had helped him through. But with Mr Gregory it was different. Mike hated being shouted at. It confused him. And Mr Gregory invariablyshouted. He always spoke as if he were competing against a high wind. With Mike he shouted more than usual. On his side, it must be admittedthat Mike was something out of the common run of bank clerks. The wholesystem of banking was a horrid mystery to him. He did not understandwhy things were done, or how the various departments depended on anddove-tailed into one another. Each department seemed to him somethingseparate and distinct. Why they were all in the same building at all henever really gathered. He knew that it could not be purely from motivesof sociability, in order that the clerks might have each other'scompany during slack spells. That much he suspected, but beyond that hewas vague. 

It naturally followed that, after having grown, little by little, underMr Waller's easy-going rule, to enjoy life in the bank, he now suffereda reaction. Within a day of his arrival in the Fixed Deposits he wasloathing the place as earnestly as he had loathed it on the firstmorning. 

Psmith, who had taken his place in the Cash Department, reported thatMr Waller was inconsolable at his loss. 

'I do my best to cheer him up, ' he said, 'and he smiles bravely everynow and then. But when he thinks I am not looking, his head droops andthat wistful expression comes into his face. The sunshine has gone outof his life. '

It had just come into Mike's, and, more than anything else, was makinghim restless and discontented. That is to say, it was now late spring:the sun shone cheerfully on the City; and cricket was in the air. Andthat was the trouble. 

In the dark days, when everything was fog and slush, Mike had beencontented enough to spend his mornings and afternoons in the bank, andgo about with Psmith at night. Under such conditions, London is thebest place in which to be, and the warmth and light of the bank werepleasant. 

But now things had changed. The place had become a prison. With all theenergy of one who had been born and bred in the country, Mike hatedhaving to stay indoors on days when all the air was full of approachingsummer. There were mornings when it was almost more than he could do topush open the swing doors, and go out of the fresh air into the stuffyatmosphere of the bank. 

The days passed slowly, and the cricket season began. Instead of beinga relief, this made matters worse. The little cricket he could get onlymade him want more. It was as if a starving man had been given ahandful of wafer biscuits. 

If the summer had been wet, he might have been less restless. But, asit happened, it was unusually fine. After a week of cold weather at thebeginning of May, a hot spell set in. May passed in a blaze ofsunshine. Large scores were made all over the country. 

Mike's name had been down for the M. C. C. For some years, and he hadbecome a member during his last season at Wrykyn. Once or twice a weekhe managed to get up to Lord's for half an hour's practice at the nets;and on Saturdays the bank had matches, in which he generally managed toknock the cover off rather ordinary club bowling. But it was not enoughfor him. 

June came, and with it more sunshine. The atmosphere of the bank seemedmore oppressive than ever. 

25. At the Telephone

If one looks closely into those actions which are apparently due tosudden impulse, one generally finds that the sudden impulse was merelythe last of a long series of events which led up to the action. Alone, it would not have been powerful enough to effect anything. But, comingafter the way has been paved for it, it is irresistible. The hooliganwho bonnets a policeman is apparently the victim of a sudden impulse. In reality, however, the bonneting is due to weeks of daily encounterswith the constable, at each of which meetings the dislike for hishelmet and the idea of smashing it in grow a little larger, tillfinally they blossom into the deed itself. 

This was what happened in Mike's case. Day by day, through the summer, as the City grew hotter and stuffier, his hatred of the bank becamemore and more the thought that occupied his mind. It only needed amoderately strong temptation to make him break out and take theconsequences. 

Psmith noticed his restlessness and endeavoured to soothe it. 

'All is not well, ' he said, 'with Comrade Jackson, the Sunshine of theHome. I note a certain wanness of the cheek. The peach-bloom of yourcomplexion is no longer up to sample. Your eye is wild; your merrylaugh no longer rings through the bank, causing nervous customers toleap into the air with startled exclamations. You have the manner ofone whose only friend on earth is a yellow dog, and who has lost thedog. Why is this, Comrade Jackson?'

They were talking in the flat at Clement's Inn. The night was hot. Through the open windows the roar of the Strand sounded faintly. Mikewalked to the window and looked out. 

'I'm sick of all this rot, ' he said shortly. 

Psmith shot an inquiring glance at him, but said nothing. Thisrestlessness of Mike's was causing him a good deal of inconvenience, which he bore in patient silence, hoping for better times. With Mikeobviously discontented and out of tune with all the world, there wasbut little amusement to be extracted from the evenings now. Mike didhis best to be cheerful, but he could not shake off the caged feelingwhich made him restless. 

'What rot it all is!' went on Mike, sitting down again. 'What's thegood of it all? You go and sweat all day at a desk, day after day, forabout twopence a year. And when you're about eighty-five, you retire. It isn't living at all. It's simply being a bally vegetable. '

'You aren't hankering, by any chance, to be a pirate of the Spanishmain, or anything like that, are you?' inquired Psmith. 

'And all this rot about going out East, ' continued Mike. 'What's thegood of going out East?'

'I gather from casual chit-chat in the office that one becomessomething of a blood when one goes out East, ' said Psmith. 'Havea dozen native clerks under you, all looking up to you as the LastWord in magnificence, and end by marrying the Governor's daughter. '

'End by getting some foul sort of fever, more likely, and being bootedout as no further use to the bank. '

'You look on the gloomy side, Comrade Jackson. I seem to see yousitting in an armchair, fanned by devoted coolies, telling some Easternpotentate that you can give him five minutes. I understand that beingin a bank in the Far East is one of the world's softest jobs. Millionsof natives hang on your lightest word. Enthusiastic rajahs draw youaside and press jewels into your hand as a token of respect and esteem. When on an elephant's back you pass, somebody beats on a booming brassgong! The Banker of Bhong! Isn't your generous young heart stirred toany extent by the prospect? I am given to understand--'

'I've a jolly good mind to chuck up the whole thing and become a pro. I've got a birth qualification for Surrey. It's about the only thing Icould do any good at. '

Psmith's manner became fatherly. 

'_You're_ all right, ' he said. 'The hot weather has given you thattired feeling. What you want is a change of air. We will pop downtogether hand in hand this week-end to some seaside resort. You shallbuild sand castles, while I lie on the beach and read the paper. In theevening we will listen to the band, or stroll on the esplanade, not somuch because we want to, as to give the natives a treat. Possibly, ifthe weather continues warm, we may even paddle. A vastly exhilaratingpastime, I am led to believe, and so strengthening for the ankles. Andon Monday morning we will return, bronzed and bursting with health, toour toil once more. '

'I'm going to bed, ' said Mike, rising. 

Psmith watched him lounge from the room, and shook his head sadly. Allwas not well with his confidential secretary and adviser. 

The next day, which was a Thursday, found Mike no more reconciled tothe prospect of spending from ten till five in the company of MrGregory and the ledgers. He was silent at breakfast, and Psmith, seeingthat things were still wrong, abstained from conversation. Mike proppedthe _Sportsman_ up against the hot-water jug, and read the cricketnews. His county, captained by brother Joe, had, as he had learnedalready from yesterday's evening paper, beaten Sussex by five wicketsat Brighton. Today they were due to play Middlesex at Lord's. Mikethought that he would try to get off early, and go and see some of thefirst day's play. 

As events turned out, he got off a good deal earlier, and saw a gooddeal more of the first day's play than he had anticipated. 

He had just finished the preliminary stages of the morning's work, which consisted mostly of washing his hands, changing his coat, andeating a section of a pen-holder, when William, the messenger, approached. 

'You're wanted on the 'phone, Mr Jackson. '

The New Asiatic Bank, unlike the majority of London banks, was on thetelephone, a fact which Psmith found a great convenience when securingseats at the theatre. Mike went to the box and took up the receiver. 

'Hullo!' he said. 

'Who's that?' said an agitated voice. 'Is that you, Mike? I'm Joe. '

'Hullo, Joe, ' said Mike. 'What's up? I'm coming to see you thisevening. I'm going to try and get off early. '

'Look here, Mike, are you busy at the bank just now?'

'Not at the moment. There's never anything much going on beforeeleven. '

'I mean, are you busy today? Could you possibly manage to get off andplay for us against Middlesex?'

Mike nearly dropped the receiver. 

'What?' he cried. 

'There's been the dickens of a mix-up. We're one short, and you're ouronly hope. We can't possibly get another man in the time. We start inhalf an hour. Can you play?'

For the space of, perhaps, one minute, Mike thought. 

'Well?' said Joe's voice. 

The sudden vision of Lord's ground, all green and cool in the morningsunlight, was too much for Mike's resolution, sapped as it was by daysof restlessness. The feeling surged over him that whatever happenedafterwards, the joy of the match in perfect weather on a perfect wicketwould make it worth while. What did it matter what happened afterwards?

'All right, Joe, ' he said. 'I'll hop into a cab now, and go and get mythings. '

'Good man, ' said Joe, hugely relieved. 

26. Breaking The News

Dashing away from the call-box, Mike nearly cannoned into Psmith, whowas making his way pensively to the telephone with the object ofringing up the box office of the Haymarket Theatre. 

'Sorry, ' said Mike. 'Hullo, Smith. '

'Hullo indeed, ' said Psmith, courteously. 'I rejoice, Comrade Jackson, to find you going about your commercial duties like a young bomb. Howis it, people repeatedly ask me, that Comrade Jackson contrives tocatch his employer's eye and win the friendly smile from the head ofhis department? My reply is that where others walk, Comrade Jacksonruns. Where others stroll, Comrade Jackson legs it like a highly-trainedmustang of the prairie. He does not loiter. He gets back to his departmentbathed in perspiration, in level time. He--'

'I say, Smith, ' said Mike, 'you might do me a favour. '

'A thousand. Say on. '

'Just look in at the Fixed Deposits and tell old Gregory that I shan'tbe with him today, will you? I haven't time myself. I must rush!'

Psmith screwed his eyeglass into his eye, and examined Mike carefully. 

'What exactly--?' be began. 

'Tell the old ass I've popped off. '

'Just so, just so, ' murmured Psmith, as one who assents to a thoroughlyreasonable proposition. 'Tell him you have popped off. It shall bedone. But it is within the bounds of possibility that Comrade Gregorymay inquire further. Could you give me some inkling as to why you arepopping?'

'My brother Joe has just rung me up from Lords. The county are playingMiddlesex and they're one short. He wants me to roll up. '

Psmith shook his head sadly. 

'I don't wish to interfere in any way, ' he said, 'but I suppose yourealize that, by acting thus, you are to some extent knocking thestuffing out of your chances of becoming manager of this bank? If youdash off now, I shouldn't count too much on that marrying theGovernor's daughter scheme I sketched out for you last night. I doubtwhether this is going to help you to hold the gorgeous East in fee, andall that sort of thing. '

'Oh, dash the gorgeous East. '

'By all means, ' said Psmith obligingly. 'I just thought I'd mention it. I'll look in at Lord's this afternoon. I shall send my card up to you, and trust to your sympathetic cooperation to enable me to effect anentry into the pavilion on my face. My father is coming up to Londontoday. I'll bring him along, too. '

'Right ho. Dash it, it's twenty to. So long. See you at Lord's. '

Psmith looked after his retreating form till it had vanished throughthe swing-door, and shrugged his shoulders resignedly, as ifdisclaiming all responsibility. 

'He has gone without his hat, ' he murmured. 'It seems to me that thisis practically a case of running amok. And now to break the news tobereaved Comrade Gregory. '

He abandoned his intention of ringing up the Haymarket Theatre, andturning away from the call-box, walked meditatively down the aisle tillhe came to the Fixed Deposits Department, where the top of Mr Gregory'shead was to be seen over the glass barrier, as he applied himself tohis work. 

Psmith, resting his elbows on the top of the barrier and holding hishead between his hands, eyed the absorbed toiler for a moment insilence, then emitted a hollow groan. 

Mr Gregory, who was ruling a line in a ledger--most of the work in theFixed Deposits Department consisted of ruling lines in ledgers, sometimes in black ink, sometimes in red--started as if he had beenstung, and made a complete mess of the ruled line. He lifted a fiery, bearded face, and met Psmith's eye, which shone with kindly sympathy. 

He found words. 

'What the dickens are you standing there for, mooing like a blankedcow?' he inquired. 

'I was groaning, ' explained Psmith with quiet dignity. 'And why was Igroaning?' he continued. 'Because a shadow has fallen on the FixedDeposits Department. Comrade Jackson, the Pride of the Office, hasgone. '

Mr Gregory rose from his seat. 

'I don't know who the dickens you are--' he began. 

'I am Psmith, ' said the old Etonian, 'Oh, you're Smith, are you?'

'With a preliminary P. Which, however, is not sounded. '

'And what's all this dashed nonsense about Jackson?'

'He is gone. Gone like the dew from the petal of a rose. '

'Gone! Where's he gone to?'

'Lord's. '

'What lord's?'

Psmith waved his hand gently. 

'You misunderstand me. Comrade Jackson has not gone to mix with anymember of our gay and thoughtless aristocracy. He has gone to Lord'scricket ground. '

Mr Gregory's beard bristled even more than was its wont. 

'What!' he roared. 'Gone to watch a cricket match! Gone--!'

'Not to watch. To play. An urgent summons I need not say. Nothing butan urgent summons could have wrenched him from your very delightfulsociety, I am sure. '

Mr Gregory glared. 

'I don't want any of your impudence, ' he said. 

Psmith nodded gravely. 

'We all have these curious likes and dislikes, ' he said tolerantly. 'You do not like my impudence. Well, well, some people don't. And now, having broken the sad news, I will return to my own department. '

'Half a minute. You come with me and tell this yarn of yours to MrBickersdyke. '

'You think it would interest, amuse him? Perhaps you are right. Let usbuttonhole Comrade Bickersdyke. '

Mr Bickersdyke was disengaged. The head of the Fixed DepositsDepartment stumped into the room. Psmith followed at a more leisurelypace. 

'Allow me, ' he said with a winning smile, as Mr Gregory opened hismouth to speak, 'to take this opportunity of congratulating you on yoursuccess at the election. A narrow but well-deserved victory. '

There was nothing cordial in the manager's manner. 

'What do you want?' he said. 

'Myself, nothing, ' said Psmith. 'But I understand that Mr Gregory hassome communication to make. '

'Tell Mr Bickersdyke that story of yours, ' said Mr Gregory. 

'Surely, ' said Psmith reprovingly, 'this is no time for anecdotes. MrBickersdyke is busy. He--'

'Tell him what you told me about Jackson. '

Mr Bickersdyke looked up inquiringly. 

'Jackson, ' said Psmith, 'has been obliged to absent himself from worktoday owing to an urgent summons from his brother, who, I understand, has suffered a bereavement. '

'It's a lie, ' roared Mr Gregory. 'You told me yourself he'd gone toplay in a cricket match. '

'True. As I said, he received an urgent summons from his brother. '

'What about the bereavement, then?'

'The team was one short. His brother was very distressed about it. Whatcould Comrade Jackson do? Could he refuse to help his brother when itwas in his power? His generous nature is a byword. He did the onlypossible thing. He consented to play. '

Mr Bickersdyke spoke. 

'Am I to understand, ' he asked, with sinister calm, 'that Mr Jacksonhas left his work and gone off to play in a cricket match?'

'Something of that sort has, I believe, happened, ' said Psmith. 'Heknew, of course, ' he added, bowing gracefully in Mr Gregory'sdirection, 'that he was leaving his work in thoroughly competenthands. '

'Thank you, ' said Mr Bickersdyke. 'That will do. You will help MrGregory in his department for the time being, Mr Smith. I will arrangefor somebody to take your place in your own department. '

'It will be a pleasure, ' murmured Psmith. 

'Show Mr Smith what he has to do, Mr Gregory, ' said the manager. 

They left the room. 

'How curious, Comrade Gregory, ' mused Psmith, as they went, 'are theworkings of Fate! A moment back, and your life was a blank. ComradeJackson, that prince of Fixed Depositors, had gone. How, you said toyourself despairingly, can his place be filled? Then the cloud broke, and the sun shone out again. _I_ came to help you. What you loseon the swings, you make up on the roundabouts. Now show me what I haveto do, and then let us make this department sizzle. You have drawn agood ticket, Comrade Gregory. '

27. At Lord's

Mike got to Lord's just as the umpires moved out into the field. Heraced round to the pavilion. Joe met him on the stairs. 

'It's all right, ' he said. 'No hurry. We've won the toss. I've put youin fourth wicket. '

'Right ho, ' said Mike. 'Glad we haven't to field just yet. '

'We oughtn't to have to field today if we don't chuck our wicketsaway. '

'Good wicket?'

'Like a billiard-table. I'm glad you were able to come. Have anydifficulty in getting away?'

Joe Jackson's knowledge of the workings of a bank was of the slightest. He himself had never, since he left Oxford, been in a position wherethere were obstacles to getting off to play in first-class cricket. Byprofession he was agent to a sporting baronet whose hobby was thecricket of the county, and so, far from finding any difficulty inplaying for the county, he was given to understand by his employer thatthat was his chief duty. It never occurred to him that Mike might findhis bank less amenable in the matter of giving leave. His only fear, when he rang Mike up that morning, had been that this might be aparticularly busy day at the New Asiatic Bank. If there was no specialrush of work, he took it for granted that Mike would simply go to themanager, ask for leave to play in the match, and be given it with abeaming smile. 

Mike did not answer the question, but asked one on his own account. 

'How did you happen to be short?' he said. 

'It was rotten luck. It was like this. We were altering our team afterthe Sussex match, to bring in Ballard, Keene, and Willis. They couldn'tget down to Brighton, as the 'Varsity had a match, but there wasnothing on for them in the last half of the week, so they'd promised toroll up. '

Ballard, Keene, and Willis were members of the Cambridge team, all verycapable performers and much in demand by the county, when they couldget away to play for it. 

'Well?' said Mike. 

'Well, we all came up by train from Brighton last night. But thesethree asses had arranged to motor down from Cambridge early today, andget here in time for the start. What happens? Why, Willis, who fancieshimself as a chauffeur, undertakes to do the driving; and naturally, being an absolute rotter, goes and smashes up the whole concern justoutside St Albans. The first thing I knew of it was when I got toLord's at half past ten, and found a wire waiting for me to say thatthey were all three of them crocked, and couldn't possibly play. I tellyou, it was a bit of a jar to get half an hour before the matchstarted. Willis has sprained his ankle, apparently; Keene's damaged hiswrist; and Ballard has smashed his collar-bone. I don't suppose they'llbe able to play in the 'Varsity match. Rotten luck for Cambridge. Well, fortunately we'd had two reserve pros, with us at Brighton, who hadcome up to London with the team in case they might be wanted, so, withthem, we were only one short. Then I thought of you. That's how itwas. '

'I see, ' said Mike. 'Who are the pros?'

'Davis and Brockley. Both bowlers. It weakens our batting a lot. Ballard or Willis might have got a stack of runs on this wicket. Still, we've got a certain amount of batting as it is. We oughtn't to dobadly, if we're careful. You've been getting some practice, I suppose, this season?'

'In a sort of a way. Nets and so on. No matches of any importance. '

'Dash it, I wish you'd had a game or two in decent class cricket. Still, nets are better than nothing, I hope you'll be in form. We maywant a pretty long knock from you, if things go wrong. These men seemto be settling down all right, thank goodness, ' he added, looking outof the window at the county's first pair, Warrington and Mills, twoprofessionals, who, as the result of ten minutes' play, had put uptwenty. 

'I'd better go and change, ' said Mike, picking up his bag. 'You're infirst wicket, I suppose?'

'Yes. And Reggie, second wicket. '

Reggie was another of Mike's brothers, not nearly so fine a player asJoe, but a sound bat, who generally made runs if allowed to stay in. 

Mike changed, and went out into the little balcony at the top of thepavilion. He had it to himself. There were not many spectators in thepavilion at this early stage of the game. 

There are few more restful places, if one wishes to think, than theupper balconies of Lord's pavilion. Mike, watching the game making itsleisurely progress on the turf below, set himself seriously to reviewthe situation in all its aspects. The exhilaration of bursting thebonds had begun to fade, and he found himself able to look into thematter of his desertion and weigh up the consequences. There was nodoubt that he had cut the painter once and for all. Even afriendly-disposed management could hardly overlook what he had done. And the management of the New Asiatic Bank was the very reverse offriendly. Mr Bickersdyke, he knew, would jump at this chance of gettingrid of him. He realized that he must look on his career in the bank asa closed book. It was definitely over, and he must now think about thefuture. 

It was not a time for half-measures. He could not go home. He mustcarry the thing through, now that he had begun, and find somethingdefinite to do, to support himself. 

There seemed only one opening for him. What could he do, he askedhimself. Just one thing. He could play cricket. It was by his cricketthat he must live. He would have to become a professional. Could he gettaken on? That was the question. It was impossible that he should playfor his own county on his residential qualification. He could notappear as a professional in the same team in which his brothers wereplaying as amateurs. He must stake all on his birth qualification forSurrey. 

On the other hand, had he the credentials which Surrey would want? Hehad a school reputation. But was that enough? He could not help feelingthat it might not be. 

Thinking it over more tensely than he had ever thought over anything inhis whole life, he saw clearly that everything depended on what sort ofshow he made in this match which was now in progress. It was his bigchance. If he succeeded, all would be well. He did not care to thinkwhat his position would be if he did not succeed. 

A distant appeal and a sound of clapping from the crowd broke in on histhoughts. Mills was out, caught at the wicket. The telegraph-board gavethe total as forty-eight. Not sensational. The success of the teamdepended largely on what sort of a start the two professionals made. 

The clapping broke out again as Joe made his way down the steps. Joe, as an All England player, was a favourite with the crowd. 

Mike watched him play an over in his strong, graceful style: then itsuddenly occurred to him that he would like to know how matters hadgone at the bank in his absence. 

He went down to the telephone, rang up the bank, and asked for Psmith. 

Presently the familiar voice made itself heard. 

'Hullo, Smith. '

'Hullo. Is that Comrade Jackson? How are things progressing?'

'Fairly well. We're in first. We've lost one wicket, and the fifty'sjust up. I say, what's happened at the bank?'

'I broke the news to Comrade Gregory. A charming personality. I feelthat we shall be friends. '

'Was he sick?'

'In a measure, yes. Indeed, I may say he practically foamed at themouth. I explained the situation, but he was not to be appeased. Hejerked me into the presence of Comrade Bickersdyke, with whom I had abrief but entertaining chat. He had not a great deal to say, but helistened attentively to my narrative, and eventually told me off totake your place in the Fixed Deposits. That melancholy task I am nowperforming to the best of my ability. I find the work a little trying. There is too much ledger-lugging to be done for my simple tastes. Ihave been hauling ledgers from the safe all the morning. The cry isbeginning to go round, "Psmith is willing, but can his physique standthe strain?" In the excitement of the moment just now I dropped asomewhat massive tome on to Comrade Gregory's foot, unfortunately, Iunderstand, the foot in which he has of late been suffering twinges ofgout. I passed the thing off with ready tact, but I cannot deny thatthere was a certain temporary coolness, which, indeed, is not yet past. These things, Comrade Jackson, are the whirlpools in the quiet streamof commercial life. '

'Have I got the sack?'

'No official pronouncement has been made to me as yet on the subject, but I think I should advise you, if you are offered another job in thecourse of the day, to accept it. I cannot say that you are preciselythe pet of the management just at present. However, I have ideas foryour future, which I will divulge when we meet. I propose to slidecoyly from the office at about four o'clock. I am meeting my father atthat hour. We shall come straight on to Lord's. '

'Right ho, ' said Mike. 'I'll be looking out for you. '

'Is there any little message I can give Comrade Gregory from you?'

'You can give him my love, if you like. '

'It shall be done. Good-bye. '

'Good-bye. '

Mike replaced the receiver, and went up to his balcony again. 

As soon as his eye fell on the telegraph-board he saw with a start thatthings had been moving rapidly in his brief absence. The numbers of thebatsmen on the board were three and five. 

'Great Scott!' he cried. 'Why, I'm in next. What on earth's beenhappening?'

He put on his pads hurriedly, expecting every moment that a wicketwould fall and find him unprepared. But the batsmen were still togetherwhen he rose, ready for the fray, and went downstairs to get news. 

He found his brother Reggie in the dressing-room. 

'What's happened?' he said. 'How were you out?'

'L. B. W. , ' said Reggie. 'Goodness knows how it happened. My eyesightmust be going. I mistimed the thing altogether. '

'How was Warrington out?'

'Caught in the slips. '

'By Jove!' said Mike. 'This is pretty rocky. Three for sixty-one. Weshall get mopped. '

'Unless you and Joe do something. There's no earthly need to get out. The wicket's as good as you want, and the bowling's nothing special. Well played, Joe!'

A beautiful glide to leg by the greatest of the Jacksons had rolled upagainst the pavilion rails. The fieldsmen changed across for the nextover. 

'If only Peters stops a bit--' began Mike, and broke off. Peters' offstump was lying at an angle of forty-five degrees. 

'Well, he hasn't, ' said Reggie grimly. 'Silly ass, why did he hit atthat one? All he'd got to do was to stay in with Joe. Now it's up toyou. Do try and do something, or we'll be out under the hundred. '

Mike waited till the outcoming batsman had turned in at theprofessionals' gate. Then he walked down the steps and out into theopen, feeling more nervous than he had felt since that far-off day whenhe had first gone in to bat for Wrykyn against the M. C. C. He found histhoughts flying back to that occasion. Today, as then, everythingseemed very distant and unreal. The spectators were miles away. He hadoften been to Lord's as a spectator, but the place seemed entirelyunfamiliar now. He felt as if he were in a strange land. 

He was conscious of Joe leaving the crease to meet him on his way. Hesmiled feebly. 'Buck up, ' said Joe in that robust way of his which wasso heartening. 'Nothing in the bowling, and the wicket like a shirt-front. Play just as if you were at the nets. And for goodness' sake don't try toscore all your runs in the first over. Stick in, and we've got them. '

Mike smiled again more feebly than before, and made a weird gurglingnoise in his throat. 

It had been the Middlesex fast bowler who had destroyed Peters. Mikewas not sorry. He did not object to fast bowling. He took guard, andlooked round him, taking careful note of the positions of the slips. 

As usual, once he was at the wicket the paralysed feeling left him. Hebecame conscious again of his power. Dash it all, what was there to beafraid of? He was a jolly good bat, and he would jolly well show themthat he was, too. 

The fast bowler, with a preliminary bound, began his run. Mike settledhimself into position, his whole soul concentrated on the ball. Everything else was wiped from his mind. 

28. Psmith Arranges his Future

It was exactly four o'clock when Psmith, sliding unostentatiously fromhis stool, flicked divers pieces of dust from the leg of his trousers, and sidled towards the basement, where he was wont to keep his hatduring business hours. He was aware that it would be a matter of somedelicacy to leave the bank at that hour. There was a certain quantityof work still to be done in the Fixed Deposits Department--work inwhich, by rights, as Mike's understudy, he should have lent asympathetic and helping hand. 'But what of that?' he mused, thoughtfully smoothing his hat with his knuckles. 'Comrade Gregory is aman who takes such an enthusiastic pleasure in his duties that he willgo singing about the office when he discovers that he has got a doublelot of work to do. '

With this comforting thought, he started on his perilous journey to theopen air. As he walked delicately, not courting observation, hereminded himself of the hero of 'Pilgrim's Progress'. On all sides ofhim lay fearsome beasts, lying in wait to pounce upon him. At anymoment Mr Gregory's hoarse roar might shatter the comparativestillness, or the sinister note of Mr Bickersdyke make itself heard. 

'However, ' said Psmith philosophically, 'these are Life's Trials, andmust be borne patiently. '

A roundabout route, via the Postage and Inwards Bills Departments, tookhim to the swing-doors. It was here that the danger became acute. Thedoors were well within view of the Fixed Deposits Department, and MrGregory had an eye compared with which that of an eagle was more orless bleared. 

Psmith sauntered to the door and pushed it open in a gingerly manner. 

As he did so a bellow rang through the office, causing a timid customer, who had come in to arrange about an overdraft, to lose his nervecompletely and postpone his business till the following afternoon. 

Psmith looked up. Mr Gregory was leaning over the barrier which dividedhis lair from the outer world, and gesticulating violently. 

'Where are you going, ' roared the head of the Fixed Deposits. 

Psmith did not reply. With a benevolent smile and a gesture intended tosignify all would come right in the future, he slid through theswing-doors, and began to move down the street at a somewhat swifterpace than was his habit. 

Once round the corner he slackened his speed. 

'This can't go on, ' he said to himself. 'This life of commerce is toogreat a strain. One is practically a hunted hare. Either the heads ofmy department must refrain from View Halloos when they observe me goingfor a stroll, or I abandon Commerce for some less exacting walk inlife. '

He removed his hat, and allowed the cool breeze to play upon hisforehead. The episode had been disturbing. 

He was to meet his father at the Mansion House. As he reached thatland-mark he saw with approval that punctuality was a virtue of whichhe had not the sole monopoly in the Smith family. His father waswaiting for him at the tryst. 

'Certainly, my boy, ' said Mr Smith senior, all activity in a moment, when Psmith had suggested going to Lord's. 'Excellent. We must begetting on. We must not miss a moment of the match. Bless my soul: Ihaven't seen a first-class match this season. Where's a cab? Hi, cabby!No, that one's got some one in it. There's another. Hi! Here, lunatic!Are you blind? Good, he's seen us. That's right. Here he comes. Lord'sCricket Ground, cabby, as quick as you can. Jump in, Rupert, my boy, jump in. '

Psmith rarely jumped. He entered the cab with something of thestateliness of an old Roman Emperor boarding his chariot, and settledhimself comfortably in his seat. Mr Smith dived in like a rabbit. 

A vendor of newspapers came to the cab thrusting an evening paper intothe interior. Psmith bought it. 

'Let's see how they're getting on, ' he said, opening the paper. 'Whereare we? Lunch scores. Lord's. Aha! Comrade Jackson is in form. '

'Jackson?' said Mr Smith, 'is that the same youngster you brought homelast summer? The batsman? Is he playing today?'

'He was not out thirty at lunch-time. He would appear to be makingsomething of a stand with his brother Joe, who has made sixty-one up tothe moment of going to press. It's possible he may still be in when weget there. In which case we shall not be able to slide into thepavilion. '

'A grand bat, that boy. I said so last summer. Better than any of hisbrothers. He's in the bank with you, isn't he?'

'He was this morning. I doubt, however, whether he can be said to bestill in that position. '

'Eh? what? How's that?'

'There was some slight friction between him and the management. Theywished him to be glued to his stool; he preferred to play for thecounty. I think we may say that Comrade Jackson has secured the Orderof the Boot. '

'What? Do you mean to say--?'

Psmith related briefly the history of Mike's departure. 

Mr Smith listened with interest. 

'Well, ' he said at last, 'hang me if I blame the boy. It's a sincooping up a fellow who can bat like that in a bank. I should have donethe same myself in his place. '

Psmith smoothed his waistcoat. 

'Do you know, father, ' he said, 'this bank business is far from beingmuch of a catch. Indeed, I should describe it definitely as a bit off. I have given it a fair trial, and I now denounce it unhesitatingly as ashade too thick. '

'What? Are you getting tired of it?'

'Not precisely tired. But, after considerable reflection, I have cometo the conclusion that my talents lie elsewhere. At lugging ledgers Iam among the also-rans--a mere cipher. I have been wanting to speak toyou about this for some time. If you have no objection, I should liketo go to the Bar. '

'The Bar? Well--'

'I fancy I should make a pretty considerable hit as a barrister. '

Mr Smith reflected. The idea had not occurred to him before. Now thatit was suggested, his always easily-fired imagination took hold of itreadily. There was a good deal to be said for the Bar as a career. Psmith knew his father, and he knew that the thing was practically asgood as settled. It was a new idea, and as such was bound to befavourably received. 

'What I should do, if I were you, ' he went on, as if he were advising afriend on some course of action certain to bring him profit andpleasure, 'is to take me away from the bank at once. Don't wait. Thereis no time like the present. Let me hand in my resignation tomorrow. The blow to the management, especially to Comrade Bickersdyke, will bea painful one, but it is the truest kindness to administer it swiftly. Let me resign tomorrow, and devote my time to quiet study. Then I canpop up to Cambridge next term, and all will be well. '

'I'll think it over--' began Mr Smith. 

'Let us hustle, ' urged Psmith. 'Let us Do It Now. It is the only way. Have I your leave to shoot in my resignation to Comrade Bickersdyketomorrow morning?'

Mr Smith hesitated for a moment, then made up his mind. 

'Very well, ' he said. 'I really think it is a good idea. There aregreat opportunities open to a barrister. I wish we had thought of itbefore. '

'I am not altogether sorry that we did not, ' said Psmith. 'I haveenjoyed the chances my commercial life has given me of associating withsuch a man as Comrade Bickersdyke. In many ways a master-mind. Butperhaps it is as well to close the chapter. How it happened it is hardto say, but somehow I fancy I did not precisely hit it off with ComradeBickersdyke. With Psmith, the worker, he had no fault to find; but itseemed to me sometimes, during our festive evenings together at theclub, that all was not well. From little, almost imperceptible signs Ihave suspected now and then that he would just as soon have beenwithout my company. One cannot explain these things. It must have beensome incompatibility of temperament. Perhaps he will manage to bear upat my departure. But here we are, ' he added, as the cab drew up. 'Iwonder if Comrade Jackson is still going strong. '

They passed through the turnstile, and caught sight of thetelegraph-board. 

'By Jove!' said Psmith, 'he is. I don't know if he's number three ornumber six. I expect he's number six. In which case he has gotninety-eight. We're just in time to see his century. '

29. And Mike's

For nearly two hours Mike had been experiencing the keenest pleasurethat it had ever fallen to his lot to feel. From the moment he took hisfirst ball till the luncheon interval he had suffered the acutestdiscomfort. His nervousness had left him to a great extent, but he hadnever really settled down. Sometimes by luck, and sometimes by skill, he had kept the ball out of his wicket; but he was scratching, and heknew it. Not for a single over had he been comfortable. On severaloccasions he had edged balls to leg and through the slips in quite aninferior manner, and it was seldom that he managed to hit with thecentre of the bat. 

Nobody is more alive to the fact that he is not playing up to his trueform than the batsman. Even though his score mounted little by littleinto the twenties, Mike was miserable. If this was the best he could doon a perfect wicket, he felt there was not much hope for him as aprofessional. 

The poorness of his play was accentuated by the brilliance of Joe's. Joe combined science and vigour to a remarkable degree. He laid on thewood with a graceful robustness which drew much cheering from thecrowd. Beside him Mike was oppressed by that leaden sense of moralinferiority which weighs on a man who has turned up to dinner inordinary clothes when everybody else has dressed. He felt awkward andconspicuously out of place. 

Then came lunch--and after lunch a glorious change. 

Volumes might be written on the cricket lunch and the influence it hason the run of the game; how it undoes one man, and sends another backto the fray like a giant refreshed; how it turns the brilliant fastbowler into the sluggish medium, and the nervous bat into the masterfulsmiter. 

On Mike its effect was magical. He lunched wisely and well, chewing hisfood with the concentration of a thirty-three-bites a mouthful crank, and drinking dry ginger-ale. As he walked out with Joe after theinterval he knew that a change had taken place in him. His nerve hadcome back, and with it his form. 

It sometimes happens at cricket that when one feels particularly fitone gets snapped in the slips in the first over, or clean bowled by afull toss; but neither of these things happened to Mike. He stayed in, and began to score. Now there were no edgings through the slips andsnicks to leg. He was meeting the ball in the centre of the bat, andmeeting it vigorously. Two boundaries in successive balls off the fastbowler, hard, clean drives past extra-cover, put him at peace with allthe world. He was on top. He had found himself. 

Joe, at the other end, resumed his brilliant career. His century andMike's fifty arrived in the same over. The bowling began to grow loose. 

Joe, having reached his century, slowed down somewhat, and Mike took upthe running. The score rose rapidly. 

A leg-theory bowler kept down the pace of the run-getting for a time, but the bowlers at the other end continued to give away runs. Mike'sscore passed from sixty to seventy, from seventy to eighty, from eightyto ninety. When the Smiths, father and son, came on to the ground thetotal was ninety-eight. Joe had made a hundred and thirty-three. 

 * * * * *

Mike reached his century just as Psmith and his father took theirseats. A square cut off the slow bowler was just too wide for point toget to. By the time third man had sprinted across and returned the ballthe batsmen had run two. 

Mr Smith was enthusiastic. 

'I tell you, ' he said to Psmith, who was clapping in a gentlyencouraging manner, 'the boy's a wonderful bat. I said so when he wasdown with us. I remember telling him so myself. "I've seen yourbrothers play, " I said, "and you're better than any of them. " Iremember it distinctly. He'll be playing for England in another year ortwo. Fancy putting a cricketer like that into the City! It's a crime. '

'I gather, ' said Psmith, 'that the family coffers had got a bit low. Itwas necessary for Comrade Jackson to do something by way of saving theOld Home. '

'He ought to be at the University. Look, he's got that man away to theboundary again. They'll never get him out. '

At six o'clock the partnership was broken, Joe running himself out intrying to snatch a single where no single was. He had made a hundredand eighty-nine. 

Mike flung himself down on the turf with mixed feelings. He was sorryJoe was out, but he was very glad indeed of the chance of a rest. Hewas utterly fagged. A half-day match once a week is no training forfirst-class cricket. Joe, who had been playing all the season, was astough as india-rubber, and trotted into the pavilion as fresh as if hehad been having a brief spell at the nets. Mike, on the other hand, felt that he simply wanted to be dropped into a cold bath and leftthere indefinitely. There was only another half-hour's play, but hedoubted if he could get through it. 

He dragged himself up wearily as Joe's successor arrived at thewickets. He had crossed Joe before the latter's downfall, and it washis turn to take the bowling. 

Something seemed to have gone out of him. He could not time the ballproperly. The last ball of the over looked like a half-volley, and hehit out at it. But it was just short of a half-volley, and his strokearrived too soon. The bowler, running in the direction of mid-on, brought off an easy c. -and-b. 

Mike turned away towards the pavilion. He heard the gradually swellingapplause in a sort of dream. It seemed to him hours before he reachedthe dressing-room. 

He was sitting on a chair, wishing that somebody would come along andtake off his pads, when Psmith's card was brought to him. A few momentslater the old Etonian appeared in person. 

'Hullo, Smith, ' said Mike, 'By Jove! I'm done. '

'"How Little Willie Saved the Match, "' said Psmith. 'What you want isone of those gin and ginger-beers we hear so much about. Remove thosepads, and let us flit downstairs in search of a couple. Well, ComradeJackson, you have fought the good fight this day. My father sends hiscompliments. He is dining out, or he would have come up. He is going tolook in at the flat latish. '

'How many did I get?' asked Mike. 'I was so jolly done I didn't thinkof looking. '

'A hundred and forty-eight of the best, ' said Psmith. 'What will theysay at the old homestead about this? Are you ready? Then let us testthis fruity old ginger-beer of theirs. '

The two batsmen who had followed the big stand were apparently having alittle stand all of their own. No more wickets fell before the drawingof stumps. Psmith waited for Mike while he changed, and carried him offin a cab to Simpson's, a restaurant which, as he justly observed, offered two great advantages, namely, that you need not dress, and, secondly, that you paid your half-crown, and were then at liberty toeat till you were helpless, if you felt so disposed, without extracharge. 

Mike stopped short of this giddy height of mastication, but consumedenough to make him feel a great deal better. Psmith eyed his inroads onthe menu with approval. 

'There is nothing, ' he said, 'like victualling up before an ordeal. '

'What's the ordeal?' said Mike. 

'I propose to take you round to the club anon, where I trust we shallfind Comrade Bickersdyke. We have much to say to one another. '

'Look here, I'm hanged--' began Mike. 

'Yes, you must be there, ' said Psmith. 'Your presence will serve tocheer Comrade B. Up. Fate compels me to deal him a nasty blow, and hewill want sympathy. I have got to break it to him that I am leaving thebank. '

'What, are you going to chuck it?'

Psmith inclined his head. 

'The time, ' he said, 'has come to part. It has served its turn. Thestartled whisper runs round the City. "Psmith has had sufficient. "'

'What are you going to do?'

'I propose to enter the University of Cambridge, and there to study theintricacies of the Law, with a view to having a subsequent dash atbecoming Lord Chancellor. '

'By Jove!' said Mike, 'you're lucky. I wish I were coming too. '

Psmith knocked the ash off his cigarette. 

'Are you absolutely set on becoming a pro?' he asked. 

'It depends on what you call set. It seems to me it's about all I cando. '

'I can offer you a not entirely scaly job, ' said Smith, 'if you feellike taking it. In the course of conversation with my father during thematch this afternoon, I gleaned the fact that he is anxious to secureyour services as a species of agent. The vast Psmith estates, it seems, need a bright boy to keep an eye upon them. Are you prepared to acceptthe post?'

Mike stared. 

'Me! Dash it all, how old do you think I am? I'm only nineteen. '

'I had suspected as much from the alabaster clearness of yourunwrinkled brow. But my father does not wish you to enter upon yourduties immediately. There would be a preliminary interval of three, possibly four, years at Cambridge, during which I presume, you would belearning divers facts concerning spuds, turmuts, and the like. Atleast, ' said Psmith airily, 'I suppose so. Far be it from me to dictatethe line of your researches. '

'Then I'm afraid it's off, ' said Mike gloomily. 'My pater couldn'tafford to send me to Cambridge. '

'That obstacle, ' said Psmith, 'can be surmounted. You would, of course, accompany me to Cambridge, in the capacity, which you enjoy at thepresent moment, of my confidential secretary and adviser. Any expensesthat might crop up would be defrayed from the Psmith family chest. '

Mike's eyes opened wide again. 

'Do you mean, ' he asked bluntly, 'that your pater would pay for me atthe 'Varsity? No I say--dash it--I mean, I couldn't--'

'Do you suggest, ' said Psmith, raising his eyebrows, 'that I should goto the University _without_ a confidential secretary and adviser?'

'No, but I mean--' protested Mike. 

'Then that's settled, ' said Psmith. 'I knew you would not desert me inmy hour of need, Comrade Jackson. "What will you do, " asked my father, alarmed for my safety, "among these wild undergraduates? I fear for myRupert. " "Have no fear, father, " I replied. "Comrade Jackson will bebeside me. " His face brightened immediately. "Comrade Jackson, " hesaid, "is a man in whom I have the supremest confidence. If he is withyou I shall sleep easy of nights. " It was after that that theconversation drifted to the subject of agents. '

Psmith called for the bill and paid it in the affable manner of amonarch signing a charter. Mike sat silent, his mind in a whirl. He sawexactly what had happened. He could almost hear Psmith talking hisfather into agreeing with his scheme. He could think of nothing to say. As usually happened in any emotional crisis in his life, wordsabsolutely deserted him. The thing was too big. Anything he could saywould sound too feeble. When a friend has solved all your difficultiesand smoothed out all the rough places which were looming in your path, you cannot thank him as if he had asked you to lunch. The occasiondemanded some neat, polished speech; and neat, polished speeches werebeyond Mike. 

'I say, Psmith--' he began. 

Psmith rose. 

'Let us now, ' he said, 'collect our hats and meander to the club, where, I have no doubt, we shall find Comrade Bickersdyke, allunconscious of impending misfortune, dreaming pleasantly over coffeeand a cigar in the lower smoking-room. '

30. The Last Sad Farewells

As it happened, that was precisely what Mr Bickersdyke was doing. Hewas feeling thoroughly pleased with life. For nearly nine months Psmithhad been to him a sort of spectre at the feast inspiring him with anever-present feeling of discomfort which he had found impossible toshake off. And tonight he saw his way of getting rid of him. 

At five minutes past four Mr Gregory, crimson and wrathful, had plungedinto his room with a long statement of how Psmith, deputed to help inthe life and thought of the Fixed Deposits Department, had left thebuilding at four o'clock, when there was still another hour and ahalf's work to be done. 

Moreover, Mr Gregory deposed, the errant one, seen sliding out of theswinging door, and summoned in a loud, clear voice to come back, hadflatly disobeyed and had gone upon his ways 'Grinning at me, ' said theaggrieved Mr Gregory, 'like a dashed ape. ' A most unjust description ofthe sad, sweet smile which Psmith had bestowed upon him from thedoorway. 

Ever since that moment Mr Bickersdyke had felt that there was a silverlining to the cloud. Hitherto Psmith had left nothing to be desired inthe manner in which he performed his work. His righteousness in theoffice had clothed him as in a suit of mail. But now he had slipped. Togo off an hour and a half before the proper time, and to refuse toreturn when summoned by the head of his department--these were offencesfor which he could be dismissed without fuss. Mr Bickersdyke lookedforward to tomorrow's interview with his employee. 

Meanwhile, having enjoyed an excellent dinner, he was now, as Psmithhad predicted, engaged with a cigar and a cup of coffee in the lowersmoking-room of the Senior Conservative Club. 

Psmith and Mike entered the room when he was about half through theseluxuries. 

Psmith's first action was to summon a waiter, and order a glass of neatbrandy. 'Not for myself, ' he explained to Mike. 'For ComradeBickersdyke. He is about to sustain a nasty shock, and may need arestorative at a moment's notice. For all we know, his heart may not bestrong. In any case, it is safest to have a pick-me-up handy. '

He paid the waiter, and advanced across the room, followed by Mike. Inhis hand, extended at arm's length, he bore the glass of brandy. 

Mr Bickersdyke caught sight of the procession, and started. Psmith setthe brandy down very carefully on the table, beside the manager'scoffee cup, and, dropping into a chair, regarded him pityingly throughhis eyeglass. Mike, who felt embarrassed, took a seat some little waybehind his companion. This was Psmith's affair, and he proposed toallow him to do the talking. 

Mr Bickersdyke, except for a slight deepening of the colour of hiscomplexion, gave no sign of having seen them. He puffed away at hiscigar, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. 

'An unpleasant task lies before us, ' began Psmith in a low, sorrowfulvoice, 'and it must not be shirked. Have I your ear, Mr Bickersdyke?'

Addressed thus directly, the manager allowed his gaze to wander fromthe ceiling. He eyed Psmith for a moment like an elderly basilisk, thenlooked back at the ceiling again. 

'I shall speak to you tomorrow, ' he said. 

Psmith heaved a heavy sigh. 

'You will not see us tomorrow, ' he said, pushing the brandy a littlenearer. 

Mr Bickersdyke's eyes left the ceiling once more. 

'What do you mean?' he said. 

'Drink this, ' urged Psmith sympathetically, holding out the glass. 'Bebrave, ' he went on rapidly. 'Time softens the harshest blows. Shocksstun us for the moment, but we recover. Little by little we come toourselves again. Life, which we had thought could hold no more pleasurefor us, gradually shows itself not wholly grey. '

Mr Bickersdyke seemed about to make an observation at this point, butPsmith, with a wave of the hand, hurried on. 

'We find that the sun still shines, the birds still sing. Things whichused to entertain us resume their attraction. Gradually we emerge fromthe soup, and begin--'

'If you have anything to say to me, ' said the manager, 'I should beglad if you would say it, and go. '

'You prefer me not to break the bad news gently?' said Psmith. 'Perhapsyou are wise. In a word, then, '--he picked up the brandy and held itout to him--'Comrade Jackson and myself are leaving the bank. '

'I am aware of that, ' said Mr Bickersdyke drily. 

Psmith put down the glass. 

'You have been told already?' he said. 'That accounts for your calm. The shock has expended its force on you, and can do no more. You arestunned. I am sorry, but it had to be. You will say that it is madnessfor us to offer our resignations, that our grip on the work of the bankmade a prosperous career in Commerce certain for us. It may be so. Butsomehow we feel that our talents lie elsewhere. To Comrade Jackson themanagement of the Psmith estates seems the job on which he can get therapid half-Nelson. For my own part, I feel that my long suit is theBar. I am a poor, unready speaker, but I intend to acquire a knowledgeof the Law which shall outweigh this defect. Before leaving you, Ishould like to say--I may speak for you as well as myself, ComradeJackson--?'

Mike uttered his first contribution to the conversation--a gurgle--andrelapsed into silence again. 

'I should like to say, ' continued Psmith, 'how much Comrade Jackson andI have enjoyed our stay in the bank. The insight it has given us intoyour masterly handling of the intricate mechanism of the office hasbeen a treat we would not have missed. But our place is elsewhere. '

He rose. Mike followed his example with alacrity. It occurred to MrBickersdyke, as they turned to go, that he had not yet been able to getin a word about their dismissal. They were drifting away with all thehonours of war. 

'Come back, ' he cried. 

Psmith paused and shook his head sadly. 

'This is unmanly, Comrade Bickersdyke, ' he said. 'I had not expectedthis. That you should be dazed by the shock was natural. But that youshould beg us to reconsider our resolve and return to the bank isunworthy of you. Be a man. Bite the bullet. The first keen pang willpass. Time will soften the feeling of bereavement. You must be brave. Come, Comrade Jackson. '

Mike responded to the call without hesitation. 

'We will now, ' said Psmith, leading the way to the door, 'push back tothe flat. My father will be round there soon. ' He looked over hisshoulder. Mr Bickersdyke appeared to be wrapped in thought. 

'A painful business, ' sighed Psmith. 'The man seems quite broken up. Ithad to be, however. The bank was no place for us. An excellent careerin many respects, but unsuitable for you and me. It is hard on ComradeBickersdyke, especially as he took such trouble to get me into it, butI think we may say that we are well out of the place. '

Mike's mind roamed into the future. Cambridge first, and then anopen-air life of the sort he had always dreamed of. The Problem ofLife seemed to him to be solved. He looked on down the years, and hecould see no troubles there of any kind whatsoever. Reason suggestedthat there were probably one or two knocking about somewhere, but thiswas no time to think of them. He examined the future, and found it good. 

'I should jolly well think, ' he said simply, 'that we might. '