an even raffish air.

"How are you, Ruffin?" he said, with an amiable smile, but in a
somewhat nervous and deprecatory tone.

"How are you, Osterley? Got over the sulks?" said the Honourable John
Ruffin lightly.

"Sulks? I never sulk!" said the duke with some heat.

"What do you call them then?" said the Honourable John Ruffin with a
good display of the liveliest most unaffected interest.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" said the duke coldly; but he
flushed.

It is likely that the Honourable John Ruffin would have raised him to a
considerable temperature on this matter; but the entrance of Pollyooly,
bearing the tea-tray, closed the discussion of it. The Honourable John
Ruffin poured out the tea and handed the bread and butter to the duke.

They ate some bread and butter and drank some tea; and then the duke
said plaintively:

"This is jolly good tea. Why don't I ever get tea like this?"

"You ought to. You pay enough for it," said the Honourable John Ruffin
in a tone which lacked sympathy.

"I do. I believe I employ every incompetent jackass in London," said
the duke bitterly.

"And I expect you don't make any secret of your conviction at home,"
said the Honourable John Ruffin.

"I don't," said the duke firmly; then yet more plaintively he added:
"Oh, it's a dog's life for a man trying to run places like Ricksborough
House and the court on his own!"

"I expect it does try you a bit too high," said the Honourable John
Ruffin.

"It would any man," said the duke with conviction.

The Honourable John Ruffin thought that a man of tact and amiability
could probably do it quite easily; but he did not say so. He thought
that such a statement might be inhospitable. They went on with their
tea in silence, the duke frowning over his luckless lot.

Then the Honourable John Ruffin said in a distinctly patient and
long-suffering tone:

"Well, what is it you want me to do for you this time?"

"I don't want you to do anything for me!" said the duke sharply.

"Then what have you come for?" said the Honourable John Ruffin in the
same distinctly patient and long-suffering tone.

The duke hesitated; then he said:

"Well, I want you to help me. I've got an idea."

The Honourable John Ruffin looked skeptical, indeed, and he said a
little wearily:

"_You_ have? What is it?"

The duke cleared his throat, assumed a portentous air, and said:

"I tell you I'm getting devilish sick of this busi