ss the room--like those
you have at schools when there is a magic lantern on 'Our Eastern
Empire', or on 'The Way We Do in the Navy'. The doors were of carved
wood, very beautiful, with a carved Phoenix above. Anthea noticed that
the chairs in the front rows were of the kind that her mother so loved
to ask the price of in old furniture shops, and never could buy, because
the price was always nearly twenty pounds each. On the mantelpiece were
some heavy bronze candlesticks and a clock, and on the top of the clock
was another image of the Phoenix.

'Remove that effigy,' said the Phoenix to the gentlemen who were there,
and it was hastily taken down. Then the Phoenix fluttered to the middle
of the mantelpiece and stood there, looking more golden than ever. Then
every one in the house and the office came in--from the cashier to the
women who cooked the clerks' dinners in the beautiful kitchen at the top
of the house. And every one bowed to the Phoenix and then sat down in a
chair.

'Gentlemen,' said the nicest gentleman, 'we have met here today--'

The Phoenix was turning its golden beak from side to side.

'I don't notice any incense,' it said, with an injured sniff. A hurried
consultation ended in plates being fetched from the kitchen. Brown
sugar, sealing-wax, and tobacco were placed on these, and something from
a square bottle was poured over it all. Then a match was applied. It was
the only incense that was handy in the Phoenix office, and it certainly
burned very briskly and smoked a great deal.

'We have met here today,' said the gentleman again, 'on an occasion
unparalleled in the annals of this office. Our respected Phoenix--'

'Head of the House,' said the Phoenix, in a hollow voice.

'I was coming to that. Our respected Phoenix, the Head of this ancient
House, has at length done us the honour to come among us. I think I may
say, gentlemen, that we are not insensible to this honour, and that we
welcome with no uncertain voice one whom we have so long desired to see
in our midst.'

Several of the younger clerks thought of saying 'Hear, hear,' but they
feared it might seem disrespectful to the bird.

'I will not take up your time,' the speaker went on, 'by recapitulating
the advantages to be derived from a proper use of our system of fire
insurance. I know, and you know, gentlemen, that our aim has ever been
to be worthy of that eminent bird whose name we bear, and who now adorns
our mantelpiece with his p