The Postmaster-General almost immediately this time consented to receive a deputation of the aggrieved men at an early date. The well-worn facts were once more refurbished, and the necessary preparations were made to recite before him the thrice-told tale. The deputation almost expected to find themselves confronted by an austere, frowning official, ready to trip them up and to limit them both in points and minutes. But to their agreeable surprise the ogre they had come to storm in his castle turned out to be a gentleman who treated them with studied courtesy, who immediately put them at their ease, telling them to feel quite at home and to sit down with him, so that they might reason together and settle the matter in dispute amicably and without prejudice. The various points were urged at length by each speaker, Mr. Raikes meanwhile listening patiently and taking voluminous notes. At the conclusion he turned to Clery, who was in the deputation, and pleasantly remarked, “Now perhaps Mr. Clery will sum up.” Nothing loth, Clery did promptly and briefly. He said the sorters had not got the missing portion of the Fawcett scheme, and they should never be contented or happy till they got it, and he suggested that it should be referred to a small committee of public men, who might satisfactorily solve the difficult problem and interpret the scheme to every one’s satisfaction. Mr. Raikes smiled and responded, “That is a very luminous suggestion, Mr. Clery, and I will talk it over with the Secretary. In the meantime, although from your point of view your contention appears a very just one, I must say I do not read this scheme as you do.” “Then,” said Clery, “it resolves itself into a literary exercise.” There was some merriment expressed, and joined in by Mr. Raikes. The Postmaster-General further assured them that he deeply sympathised with them in their disappointment that he did not read the scheme as they did; but it appeared to him nevertheless that there was a substantial equality between them and the telegraphists, who were supposed to be so much better off. Entering more fully on the ground of his difference with them, he pleaded that Mr. Fawcett’s intentions could not be assumed by them, inasmuch as the language in which they were couched was of such an ambiguous character. Second, that the interpretation which the permanent authorities put upon the more important passages was directly opposite to that which the deputation claimed to be their true meaning. Third, that at the time the Fawcett scheme was formulated the authorities and Mr. Fawcett understood each other, and that the arrangements at present in existence were exactly what the late Mr. Fawcett desired to see. The deputation withdrew naturally disappointed in their quest, but none the less impressed with the surprising difference between their first picture of him and the man personally.