afraid I chuckled. The Twins sat hand in hand, with dreamy eyes
staring straight before them. They were conjuring up a joyous vision of
Dubberley, in his shirt-sleeves, meekly refuting one of his own theories
by means of a childish and sloppy experiment in practical hydrodynamics
in his own bathroom.

I give this incident as a fair example of Robin's point of view and
methods of action on questions which I for one would never dream of
debating. He was entirely lacking in an art which I am told I possess to
perfection--that of suffering fools gladly. Its possession has raised me
to an Under-Secretaryship. People who should know tell me that it will
also prevent my ever rising to anything higher.

"We had a taste of our friend's quality this afternoon," I remarked to
my household when we met for dinner that evening. "He is a
thorough-going warrior. Fancy any man taking all that trouble to lay out
old Dubberley!"

"Poor Mr Dubberley!" said tender-hearted Kitty.

"Do him good!" said Dilly, in whose recollection Dubberley's past
enormities loomed large. "I shall be nice to the Secretary Bird now."

Dolly said nothing, which was unusual. Perhaps the brown spot still
rankled.

CHAPTER FIVE.

ROBIN ON DUTY.

Beyond the fact that they are all desperately in earnest, all know each
other, and occupy all the most responsible and lucrative posts on the
face of the earth, Scotsmen are a class with whose characteristics I am
not well acquainted. But I learned a great deal from my new secretary.

Robin soon settled down to work. He not only performed his duties with
zeal and discretion, but he kept me up to mine. He hounded me through
the routine work of my Department; he verified my references; he managed
my correspondence; and he frequently drafted my speeches. He even
prepared some of my impromptus. Indeed, my--or rather his--description
of a certain member of the other side, a lesser light of the last
Government, a worthy man, always put up to explain matters when his
leader had decided that honesty on this occasion was the best policy, as
"a political niblick, always employed to get his party out of bad lies,"
won me more applause and popularity in a House of enthusiastic golfers
than endless weeks of honest toil behind the scenes had ever done.

But I learned more from Robin than that. I suppose I am a typical
specimen of Conservative officialdom. Until Robin came into my house it
had never occurred to me to