ut he was somewhat better after the visit of the great
man to the City.

Mr Melmotte was as good as his word and walked straight to the bank.
He kept two accounts at different banks, one for his business, and one
for his private affairs. The one he now entered was that which kept
what we may call his domestic account. He walked straight through,
after his old fashion, to the room behind the bank in which sat the
manager and the manager's one clerk, and stood upon the rug before the
fireplace just as though nothing had happened,--or as nearly as though
nothing had happened as was within the compass of his powers. He could
not quite do it. In keeping up an appearance intended to be natural he
was obliged to be somewhat milder than his wont. The manager did not
behave nearly as well as he did, and the clerks manifestly betrayed
their emotion. Melmotte saw that it was so;--but he had expected it,
and had come there on purpose to 'put it down.'

'We hardly expected to see you in the City to-day, Mr Melmotte.'

'And I didn't expect to see myself here. But it always happens that
when one expects that there's most to be done, there's nothing to be
done at all. They're all at work down at Westminster, balloting; but
as I can't go on voting for myself, I'm of no use. I've been at Covent
Garden this morning, making a stump speech, and if all that they say
there is true, I haven't much to be afraid of.'

'And the dinner went off pretty well?' asked the manager.

'Very well, indeed. They say the Emperor liked it better than anything
that has been done for him yet.' This was a brilliant flash of
imagination. 'For a friend to dine with me every day, you know, I
should prefer somebody who had a little more to say for himself. But
then, perhaps, you know, if you or I were in China we shouldn't have
much to say for ourselves;--eh?' The manager acceded to this
proposition. 'We had one awful disappointment. His lordship from over
the way didn't come.'

'The Lord Mayor, you mean.'

'The Lord Mayor didn't come! He was frightened at the last moment;--
took it into his head that his authority in the City was somehow
compromised. But the wonder was that the dinner went on without him.'
Then Melmotte referred to the purport of his call there that day. He
would have to draw large cheques for his private wants. 'You don't
give a dinner to an Emperor of China for nothing, you know.' He had
been in the habit of overdrawing on his private acc