at War to future
generations--when he wrote and told me this, and suggested (apparently
as an afterthought) that a cheque from me would further the project, I
was content to keep the matter in view.

When he wrote, some months later, and told it me all over again,
accompanying the afterthought on this occasion with a printed
subscription form, I took the trouble to reply, letting him know that
I was keeping the matter in view.

When he wrote a third time, affording me a glimpse of the guileless
faith he had in me, I felt genuinely sorry for the poor chap.

He said there were many possible reasons to account for the
non-arrival of my cheque. I might, for example, be abroad, somewhere
out of reach of postal facilities, or perhaps the cheque had been
lost in the post. Of one thing only he was sure--there had been no
parsimonious intent on my part.

I was able in some sort to relieve his mind of anxiety by mentioning
that I was still a resident at the address in Cheshire under which I
last wrote to him. I even assured him that, so long as my tailor did
not forsake his present attitude of friendly remonstrance, it was
improbable that I should proceed abroad. Nor had I as yet any reason
to suspect that great public institution, the post. The fact was that
I still had the matter in view.

As regards the pictures, I said that I had a friend who was in
love with the daughter of an A.R.A., and who, in telling me about
a financial controversy between himself and his prospective
father-in-law, had let slip the information that a slump in artists'
prices was imminent. In view of this I suggested that the agreement
with the artists commissioned by the club should for the present be a
verbal one and elastic in its wording.

In the last part of my letter I reviewed the history of my own
connection with the club, covering a period of five years. I recalled
the epoch-making day when I received my first letter from Mr.
Secretary--a letter acquainting me of the fact that I was a full-blown
member--all but, at least. What was thirty guineas? And each year
since then, I reminded him, I had disbursed a further ten guineas
without a murmur.

On the other side of the account I showed in tabulated form all the
change the club had given back:

_d._
Use of soap, 1916 0-1/2
Laundering of towel, ditto 3
Use of soap, 1919 1
Laundering of tow