stomed to. If Lord Danesbury
should know that you are an acquaintance of the Kilgobbin family, and ask
you what would be a suitable mode of showing how their conduct has been
appreciated in a high quarter, you should be prepared with an answer.'

Atlee's eyes twinkled with a malicious drollery, and he had to bite his
lips to repress an impertinence that seemed almost to master his prudence,
and at last he said carelessly--

'Dick Kearney might get something.'

'I suppose you know that his qualifications will be tested. You bear that
in mind, I hope--'

'Yes. I was just turning it over in my head, and I thought the best thing
to do would be to make him a Civil Service Commissioner. They are the only
people taken on trust.'

'You are severe, Mr. Atlee. Have these gentlemen earned this dislike on
your part?'

'Do you mean by having rejected me? No, that they have not. I believe I
could have survived that; and if, however, they had come to the point of
telling me that they were content with my acquirements, and what is
called "passed me," I fervently believe I should have been seized with an
apoplexy.'

'Mr. Atlee's opinion of himself is not a mean one,' said Walpole, with a
cold smile.

'On the contrary, sir, I have occasion to feel pretty often in every
twenty-four hours what an ignominious part a man plays in life who has to
affect to be taught what he knows already--to be asking the road where he
has travelled every step of the way--and to feel that a threadbare coat and
broken boots take more from the value of his opinions than if he were a
knave or a blackleg.'

'I don't see the humility of all this.'

'I feel the shame of it, though,' said Atlee; and as he arose and walked
out upon the terrace, the veins in his forehead were swelled and knotted,
and his lips trembled with suppressed passion.

In a tone that showed how thoroughly indifferent he felt to the other's
irritation, Walpole went on to say: 'You will then make it your business,
Mr. Atlee, to ascertain in what way most acceptable to those people at
Kilgobbin his Excellency may be able to show them some mark of royal
favour--bearing in mind not to commit yourself to anything that may raise
great expectations. In fact, a recognition is what is intended, not a
reward.'

Atlee's eyes fell upon the opal ring, which he always wore since the day
Walpole had given it to him, and there was something so significant in the
glance that the other flushed as