a General Election was drawing near, one evening
after dinner at Hawk's Hall he had a purely business conversation with
a political Whip who, perhaps not without motive, had been complaining
to him of the depleted state of the Party Chest.

"Well," said Mr. Blake, "you know that my principles are yours and that
I should like to help your, or rather our cause. Money is tight with me
just now and the outlook is very bad in my trade, but I'm a man who
always backs his fancy; in short, would L15,000 be of use?"

The Whip intimated that it would be of the greatest use.

"Of course," continued Mr. Blake, "I presume that the usual
acknowledgment would follow?"

"What acknowledgment?" asked the Whip sipping his port wearily, for
such negotiations were no new thing to him. "I mean, how do you spell
it?"

"With a P," said Mr. Blake boldly, acting on his usual principle of
asking for more than he hoped to get.

The Whip contemplated him through his eyeglass with a mild and
interested stare.

"Out of the question, my dear fellow," he said. "That box is full and
locked, and there's a long outside list waiting as well. Perhaps you
mean with a K. You know money isn't everything, as some of you
gentlemen seem to think, and if it were, you would have said fifty
instead of fifteen."

"K be damned!" replied Mr. Blake. "I'm not a mayor or an actor-manager.
Let's say B, that stands for Beginning as well as Baronet; also it
comes before P, doesn't it?"

"Well, let's see. You haven't a son, have you? Then perhaps it might be
managed," replied the Whip with gentle but pointed insolence, for Mr.
Blake annoyed him. "I'll make inquiries, and now, shall we join the
ladies? I want to continue my conversation with your daughter about the
corruption which some enemy, taking advantage of her innocence, has
persuaded her exists in the Conservative Party. She is a clever young
lady and makes out a good case against us, though I am sure I do not
know whence she got her information. Not from you, I suppose, Sir
John--I beg your pardon, Mr. Blake."

So the matter was settled, as both of them knew it would be when they
left the room. The cash found its way into some nebulous account that
nobody could have identified with any party, and in the Dissolution
Honours, John Blake, Esq., J.P., was transformed into Sir John Blake,
Bart.; information that left tens of thousands of the students of the
list mildly marvelling why. As the same wonder struc