competent to
do as we are.

It is a harmless vanity enough, and especially pardonable in Ventimore's
case, when it was so desirable to correct any tendency to "uppishness"
on the part of the Jinnee.

"And doth the Lord Mayor dispose of these forces at his will?" inquired
Fakrash, on whom Ventimore's explanation had evidently produced some
impression.

"Certainly," said Horace; "whenever he has occasion."

The Jinnee seemed engrossed in his own thoughts, for he said no more
just then.

They were now nearing St. Paul's Cathedral, and Horace's first suspicion
returned with double force.

"Mr. Fakrash, answer me," he said. "Is this my wedding day or not? If it
is, it's time I was told!"

"Not yet," said the Jinnee, enigmatically, and indeed it proved to be
another false alarm, for they turned down Cannon Street and towards the
Mansion House.

"Perhaps you can tell me why we're going through Victoria Street, and
what all this crowd has come out for?" asked Ventimore. For the throng
was denser than ever; the people surged and swayed in serried ranks
behind the City police, and gazed with a wonder and awe that for once
seemed to have entirely silenced the Cockney instinct of _persiflage_.

"For what else but to do thee honour?" answered Fakrash.

"What bosh!" said Horace. "They mistake me for the Shah or somebody--and
no wonder, in this get-up."

"Not so," said the Jinnee. "Thy names are familiar to them."

Horace glanced up at the hastily improvised decorations; on one large
strip of bunting which spanned the street he read: "Welcome to the
City's most distinguished guest!" "They can't mean me," he thought; and
then another legend caught his eye: "Well done, Ventimore!" And an
enthusiastic householder next door had burst into poetry and displayed
the couplet--

"Would we had twenty more
Like Horace Ventimore!"

"They _do_ mean me!" he exclaimed. "Now, Mr. Fakrash, _will_ you kindly
explain what tomfoolery you've been up to now? I know you're at the
bottom of this business."

It struck him that the Jinnee was slightly embarrassed. "Didst thou not
say," he replied, "that he who should receive the freedom of the City
from his fellow-men would be worthy of Bedeea-el-Jemal?"

"I may have said something of the sort. But, good heavens! you don't
mean that you have contrived that _I_ should receive the freedom of the
City?"

"It was the easiest affair possible," said the Jinnee, but he did not
at