he
two doctors took stock of Victor. They were taking no notice of his leg.
Well, it was their look out. He wouldn't be to blame if he broke down.

"You can dress." And the two doctors went to the window and consulted in
low tones.

Then the first came back.

"Well, my man, it won't do," he said. "We like your spirit.... Very
creditable, very creditable indeed. But (laughing) thirty-eight! Come,
come."

Light was breaking in on Victor. Was he really being rejected?... And
because he was too old?... Oh, the scandal, the shame.... And he dying to
get at those Huns....

"But upon my oath...." He was really in earnest now.

"There, there, we understand," said the doctor. "You've done your best. And
it's very creditable to you--very. But thirty-eight! Come, come.... Now,
good morning."

Outside, Victor's anguish and indignation were too bitter to be borne
unaided. He turned into the "Spread Eagle."

ON THE GUINEA STAMP

My eye was caught as I passed along the street just now by an advertisement
on a hoarding which announced that Mr. Martin Harvey was appearing in a new
cinema play entitled _The Hard Way_, which was described as

A FINE STORY BY A PEER.

I confess that I took an objection to that play on the spot. It may be a
good play. I don't know. I never shall know, for I shall never see it. But
why should it be assumed that you and I will run off to the pay box to see
a new play "by a peer"? Suppose the anonymous playwright had been a lawyer,
or a journalist, or a pork-butcher, or a grocer. Would the producer have
thought it helpful to announce a new play by a pork-butcher, or a lawyer,
or a grocer, or a journalist? He certainly would not. He would have left
the play to stand or fall on its merits.

Why, then, does he think that the fact that it is by a peer will bring us
all crowding to his doors? You may, of course, take it as a reflection on
the peerage. You may be supposed to think it such a miraculous thing that a
peer should be able to write a play that you may be expected to go and see
it as you would go to Barnum's to see a two-headed man or a bearded woman?
We may be invited to see it merely as a marvel, much as we used to be
invited to go and see the horse that could count or the monkeys that could
ride bicycles.

If it were so I should feel it was unjust to the peerage which is certainly
not below the average in intellectual capacity. But it is not so. It is
something much more serious