'I had some urgent private business to attend to,' said Henry. 'And I've been to lunch. I went out at a quarter-past twelve.' 'And it's now three o'clock. Why didn't you tell me you were going out?' 'Because you were engaged, Sir George.' 'Listen to me,' said Sir George. 'You've been getting above yourself lately, my friend. And I won't have it. Understand, I will not have it. The rules of this office apply just as much to you as to anyone.' 'I'm sorry,' Henry put in coldly, 'if I've put you to any inconvenience.' 'Sorry be d----d, sir!' exclaimed Sir George. 'Where on earth do you go for your lunch?' 'That concerns no one but me, Sir George,' was the reply. He would have given a five-pound note to know that Foxall and the entire staff were listening behind the door. 'You are an insolent puppy,' Sir George stated. 'If you think so, Sir George,' said Henry, 'I resign my position here.' 'And a fool!' the knight added. 'And did you say anything about the thousand pounds?' Aunt Annie asked, when, in the evening domesticity of Dawes Road, Henry recounted the doings of that day so full of emotions. 'Not I!' Henry replied. 'Not a word!' 'You did quite right, my dear!' said Aunt Annie. 'A pretty thing, that you can't go out for a few minutes!' 'Yes, isn't it?' said Henry. 'Whatever will Sir George do without you, though?' his mother wondered. And later, after he had displayed for her inspection the cheque for a thousand and eighty pounds, the old lady cried, with moist eyes: 'My darling, your poor father might well insist on having you called Shakspere! And to think that I didn't want it! To think that I didn't want it!' 'Mark my words!' said Aunt Annie. 'Sir George will ask you to stay on.' And Aunt Annie was not deceived. 'I hope you've come to your senses,' the lawyer began early the next morning, not unkindly, but rather with an intention obviously pacific. 'Literature, or whatever you call it, may be all very well, but you won't get another place like this in a hurry. There's many an admitted solicitor earns less than you, young man.' 'Thanks very much, Sir George,' Henry answered. 'But I think, on the whole, I had better leave.' 'As you wish,' said Sir George, hurt. 'Still,' Henry proceeded, 'I hope our relations will remain pleasant. I hope I may continue to employ you.' 'Continue to employ me?' Sir George gasped. 'Yes,' said Henry. 'I got you to invest some moneys for me some time ago. I have another thousand now that I want a sound security for.' It was one of those rare flashes of his--rare, but blindingly brilliant. CHAPTER XX PRESS AND PUBLIC