“You, George? Is it possible!” exclaimed Sir Horace; “what best of all lucky winds has driven you here? I'm not sure I wasn't dreaming of you this very moment. I know I have had a vision of angelic innocence and simplicity, which you must have had your part in; but do tell me when did you arrive, and whence--” “Not till I have dined, by Jove! I have tasted nothing since daybreak, and then it was only a mere apology for a breakfast.” “Franchetti, get something, will you?” said Upton, languidly,--“a cutlet, a fowl; anything that can be had at once.” “Nothing of the kind, Signor Franchetti,” interposed Harcourt; “if I have a wolfs appetite, I have a man's patience. Let me have a real dinner,--soup, fish, an entrée,--two if you like,--roast beef; and I leave the wind-up to your own discretion, only premising that I like game, and have a weakness for woodcocks. By the way, does this climate suit Bordeaux, Upton?” “They tell me so, and mine has a good reputation.” “Then claret be it, and no other wine. Don't I make myself at home, old fellow, eh?” said he, clapping Upton on the shoulder. “Have I not taken his Majesty's Embassy by storm, eh?” “We surrender at discretion, only too glad to receive our vanquisher. Well, and how do you find me looking? Be candid: how do I seem to your eyes?” “Pretty much as I have seen you these last fifteen years,--not an hour older, at all events. That same delicacy of constitution is a confounded deal better than most men's strong health, for it never wears out; but I have always said it, Upton will see us all down!” Sir Horace sighed, as though this were too pleasant to be true. “Well,” said he, at last, “but you have not told me what good chance has brought you here. Is it the first post-station on the way to India?” “No; they've taken me off the saddle, and given me a staff appointment at Corfu. I 'm going out second in command there; and whether it was to prevent my teasing them for something else, or that there was really some urgency in the matter, they ordered me off at once.” “Are they reinforcing the garrison there?” asked Upton. “No; not so far as I have heard.” “It were better policy to do so than to send out a 'commander-in-chief and a drummer of great experience,'” muttered Upton to himself; but Harcourt could not catch the remark. “Have you any news stirring in England? What do the clubs talk about?” asked Sir Horace. “Glencore's business occupied them for the last week or so; now, I think, it is yourself furnishes the chief topic for speculation.” “What of me?” asked Upton, eagerly. “Why, the rumor goes that you are to have the Foreign Office; Adderley, they say, goes out, and Conway and yourself are the favorites, the odds being slightly on his side.” “This is all news to me, George,” said Upton, with a degree of animation that had nothing fictitious about it; “I have had a note from Adderley in the last bag, and there's not a word about these changes.”