The conversation between the men drifted on to other subjects, foxhunting, lithia water, the Territorial army, and all the rest upon which men of this stamp are particularly engaged; while Dr. Hutchinson, who feared he might have offended the enthusiastic young fellow, took a chair by his side, and upon Nobby's mentioning the name of his grandfather, Lord Storrington, furnished the most interesting and voluminous details upon that nobleman's last illness, operation, and death. Much later, when all the rest had said good-night, Nobby, who loved a farewell glass, followed his host to the old smoking-room, preserving his balance in the dark corridor by a hand upon either wall. They sat together exchanging the common-places that will pass between newly found friends when they are at last alone, until Mr. Clutterbuck, who had spent a few moments with his wife arranging matters for the following day, turned to a subject he could not wholly ignore, and said with perfect tact: "I beg your pardon, but now that we're alone, tell me, how much really is there in what you were saying? I know there's more in it than those gentlemen say, and you think there's more in it, don't you?" For Mr. Clutterbuck, like many men newly introduced to the necessary compromises and halftones of our manifold political life, was still ready to receive secrets that seemed to him dramatic and to criticise from close at hand methods which during the most of his life he had only known as vague rumours. Nobby very thoughtfully chose from the silver box beside him a gigantic cigar, and said, holding the matchbox in his hand ready to strike: "Tell you the truth, there's precious little," and having said that he laughed with the laugh of a boy, and suddenly subsided into his chair. "Well, but," said Mr. Clutterbuck, without insistence, "there must be this much in it, that a man who sacrifices more than a certain amount and is known to be a hearty supporter of the tariff, for instance, or of the evacuation of Egypt, or ... or let's say what the Government did last June in Burmah would be noticed, I suppose?" "Oh yes," said Nobby, speaking as of a common-place. "But that's true of course of anything. If a man's known to 've done something _really_ handsome, silly not to recognise him. 'Sides which, it's _done_, always done. What I was complainin' of was the people who really haven't got any claim at all. F'r instance," he said, lowering his voice and looking over his shoulder for a moment, "Johnnie Higgins...." "Sir John Higgins?" said Mr. Clutterbuck, startled at the name of that prominent country gentleman. "Yes," went on Nobby simply, "Johnnie _Higgins_ wouldn't 've had anything in the course of nature. Of course he _wanted_ it, and he hasn't got a son, an' one way an' another.... But still, there _was_ the regulation price of five thousand."