by other statesmen with manifest advantage to themselves and the community. The President wore a morning black coat, with a rose in his buttonhole, and had the air about him of a man accustomed to say to one, “Come,” and he comes; to another, “Go,” and he goes. I made some few remarks about Canada and America, to which he politely listened, and then we shook hands and parted, he to be seized on by eager Congress men, I to inspect the public apartments of the White House. He has rather a hard life of it, I fancy, as he has to work all day, and his only relaxation seems to be a ride in the evening, as there are no private grounds connected with the House. In the model Republic privacy is unknown. Everything is open and aboveboard. Intelligent citizens gain much thereby. As to interviewing Royalty, that is another affair. An American interviews his President as a right. In the Old World monarchs keep people at arm’s-length. And they are right. No man is a hero to his valet. But I have interviewed the President of the United States; that is something to think of. The interview was a farce—but such is life. CHAPTER XVII. A BANK GONE. “Was there much of a sensation there when you left B— this morning?” said the manager of a leading daily to me as I was comfortably seated in his pleasant room in the fine group of buildings known to all the world as the printing and publishing offices of _The West Anglian Daily_, where I had gone in search of a little cash, which, happily, I obtained. “None at all,” said I, in utter ignorance of what he was driving at. “None at all; no one knew I was leaving,” and I smiled as if I had said something good. “No, I did not mean that,” said the manager. “It seems you have not heard the news. Brown and Co. have suspended payment. We have just had a telegram to that effect,” which he handed me to read. “Do you bank there?” he asked. “Upon my word,” I said, “I don’t know. I never read the name of the firm; I only know that I pay a small sum in monthly, and write a few cheques as occasion requires.” “You’re a pretty fellow,” said the manager. “Now I come to think of it,” said I, “that must be my bank, as there is no other in the place, except a small branch which has just been opened within the last few months by Burney and Co.” “Well, I am sorry for you,” said my friend.