know the name of
that quite, quite new and tiny machine?"

"Machine? What sort of machine?" said Wentworth.

"A camera," said Miss Tarlton, with an inflection in her tone which
entirely eliminated any other possibility.

"No, I'm afraid I don't," said Wentworth. "I don't know the name of any
cameras, except that their family name is legion."

"What?" said Miss Tarlton.

"Legion," said Wentworth again, crestfallen.

"Oh," said Miss Tarlton.

"Pateley would be the man to ask," said Wentworth, desperately trying to
put his head above the surface.

"Pateley? Is that a shop?" said Miss Tarlton eagerly. "Where?"

"A shop!" said Sir William, laughing. "I should like to see Pateley's
face"--but the door opened before he completed his sentence, and his
wish, presumably not formed upon aesthetic grounds, was fulfilled.

CHAPTER VI

Robert Pateley was a journalist, and a successful man. Some people
succeed in life because they have certain qualities which enlist the
sympathy and co-operation of their fellow-creatures; others, without
such qualities, yet succeed by having a dogged determination and power
of push which make them independent of that sympathy and co-operation.
Robert Pateley was one of the latter. When he was discussed by two
people who felt they ought to like him, they said to one another, "What
is it about Pateley that puts people off, I wonder? Why can't one like
him more?" and then they would think it over and come to no conclusion.
Perhaps it was that his journalism was of the very newest kind. He was
certainly extremely able, although his somewhat boisterous personality
and entirely non-committal conversation did not give at the first
meeting with him the impression of his being the sagacious and
keen-witted politician that he really was. Was it his laugh that people
disliked? Was it his voice? It could not have been his intelligence,
which was excellent, nor yet his moral character, which was blameless.
In fact, in a quiet way, Pateley had been a hero, for he had been left,
through his father's mismanagement of the family affairs, with two
sisters absolutely on his hands, and he had never, since undertaking the
whole charge of them, for one instant put his own welfare, advancement
or interest before theirs. Absorbed in his resolute purpose, he had
coolness of head and determination enough to govern his ambitions
instead of letting himself be governed by them. The son of a solicitor
in a co