I told him that I greatly hoped to celebrate it with him—at least, with the Country Department of the Apollo; and I breathed again in secret, for this showed that I was not going to be dismissed. Indeed, Mr. Blades had told me that a man was always cautioned once. “They never fire you the first time,” was his forcible expression. But the revulsion of feeling caused by knowing that I was saved made me strike rather too joyful a note with Mr. Trott. “I’m very sorry indeed that Mr. Westonshaugh had to report me, sir,” I said, in a hearty sort of voice. “It was well deserved, and I promise you it shan’t occur again.” But the Secretary didn’t seem to want my views. In fact, he held up his hand for silence. “You are here to listen, Mr. Corkey,” he replied. “Now, before me I have some of your recent work. Will you kindly consider these pages in an impartial spirit, and tell me what you think of them? I invite your opinion.” As bad luck would have it, before him were some registers of policies that I had done under very unusual pressure. In fact, I had made a bet with a chap called Mason that I would register twenty “short period” policies quicker than he would register twenty of the same. My friend, Dicky Travers, held the stakes, which amounted to a shilling a side, and I won by one “short period” policy in record time. These things, naturally, I did not tell my judge, for they would only have hurt him and led to Mason. Therefore, I merely regarded my handiwork with honest scorn and an expression of contempt, and said the writing was not worthy of the Apollo Fire Office. “I had come to the same conclusion,” said Mr. Septimus Trott. “We are of one mind, Mr. Corkey. Now, I appeal to your honour as a gentleman, and as one who is drawing a good salary here—I appeal to you, Mr. Corkey, to do your work in future so that we may respect you and value your services, and not deplore them. Remember henceforth, Mr. Corkey, that from ten until four, or later, as the occasion demands, we have a right to your whole time and energy and attention and intelligence. To deny us that right, and to offer us less than your best, is quite unworthy of you, and neither just nor honest to your masters. Good morning, Mr. Corkey; I feel sure that I shall not have to speak again.” I did not know what to answer, for this exceedingly fine man had made me feel both uncomfortable and mean. I had, however, to say something, so thanked him and promised that he should never be bothered by me any more. But he had already dismissed the subject and was buried in a pile of complicated documents, which were no doubt destined to melt under his hands like the dew upon the fleece.