"And at one of them they keep a real French _chef_ who knows his business. I wouldn't wish for a better cuisine anywhere." "There are other things," I remarked loftily, "besides those you mention." "Exactly; that's why I like to see a good bridge-room attached and enough tables to accommodate all comers. They have that at Spotworth. You can often get a game of poker as well." "But don't you see," I exclaimed, "that all these things, are mere accessories and circumstances?" "That is true," he murmured; "they are but frames as it were of the human interest. After all there's nothing to equal a crowd of jolly good fellows in the smoking-room. I've had some excellent times down at Bambury--stayed yarning away to all hours. Some of the best fellows I ever met belonged to that club." "You don't talk at all like a golfer," said I. Pottlebury laughed. "I was forgetting. If it's whisky you want you can't beat Dornoch and Islay. We've nothing in England to touch them. Why, I've met some of the keenest golfers of the day at Islay--nothing less than a bottle a day apiece." "Sir," said I severely, "it is clear that you have never struggled like grim death with an opponent who was three up at the turn until you were all square at the seventeenth, and then found yourself after a straight drive with an easy baffy shot to----" "One moment," said Pottlebury; "what exactly _is_ a baffy?" * * * * * Asking For It. "----'s have dozens of other cars available; £65 to £1,700; call and insult us." _Motoring Paper._ * * * * * [Illustration: HIS FIRST PATIENT. PERSIA. "THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ADVICE." DR. CURZON. "NOT AT ALL. THANK _YOU_ VERY MUCH FOR ASKING FOR IT."] * * * * * ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT. _Monday, June 14th._--As an Ulster Member, Mr. LINDSAY protested against the availability of return-tickets between Ireland and England having been reduced from six months to two. Sir ERIC GEDDES explained that the change had been made to stop the illicit traffic in return-halves, though he hastened to disclaim any suggestion that Members of Parliament were concerned in it. The grievance is probably not of large dimensions. It is difficult to understand why anyone leaving Ireland in these days should want to go back there. The PRIME MINISTER did not seem to favour the suggestion, pressed upon him from many quarters, that the Government should cause an estimate to be made of the national income, and then limit public expenditure to a definite proportion of that amount. A private person may cut his coat according to his cloth, but the Government, he argued, is unfortunately obliged by circumstances to reverse the process. Even so the taxpayer may be forgiven for thinking that the State costume still bears some superfluous trimmings.