f Beelzebub himself were to enter the
house at any time during my absence, Kitty would lure him into the
dining-room with the sherry, and then telephone for a constable.)

"The police have no right," said Champion. "If a gas company choose to
give notice that they intend on a certain day to come and burrow in a
road, all the police can do is to divert the traffic, and make the gas
company as comfortable as possible."

I was not following this conversation with any particular interest.
Being expected to speak in favour of the Bill that night, I was
undergoing the preliminary anguish which invariably attends my higher
oratorical efforts. But I remember now that about this time Dilly
suddenly turned to Dicky and whispered something in his ear. Then they
both looked across the dinner-table at Robin, who nodded, as who should
say, "I know fine what you whispered then." After that they all three
laughed and looked down the table at Champion, who was still expatiating
on the merits of his Bill.

I suppose anybody else would have divined what was in the wind, but I
did not.

* * * * *

A week later we were treated to an all-night sitting. The Irishmen had
been quiescent of late, but on this occasion they made amends for their
temporary relaxation of patriotism by resolutely obstructing an
Appropriation Bill, which had to pass through Committee that night (if
John Bull was to have any ready cash at all during the next few months),
and kept us replying to amendments and trotting through division-lobbies
until six o'clock next morning.

Robin stayed on in attendance at the House most of the night, but about
three o'clock I sent him home, with instructions to stay in bed till
tea-time if he pleased. He had had a hard time lately.

I was walking homeward in the early sunshine, marvelling, as people who
accidentally find themselves up early pharisaically do, at the fatuity
of those who waste the best hours of the whole day in bed, and revelling
in the near prospect of a bath and my breakfast, when on turning a
corner I walked into a hand-cart which was standing across the pavement.
It contained workmen's tools--picks, shovels, and the like. On the near
side of the roadway a man was erecting one of those curious wigwam
arrangements which screen the operations of electricians and other
subterranean burrowers from the public gaze. A dirty-faced small boy in
corduroys was tending a brazier of live c