I did not want to spare any minutes to Sir Samuel Clithering. In the first place I had promised to take Marion to the cathedral. "A Parade Service"--I quote the official title of the function--was to be held for the benefit of the volunteers and Marion naturally wanted to see Bob Power at the head of his men. I wanted to hear the men singing that hymn again, and I wanted to hear what sort of sermon the Dean--our Dean, not the Dean of the cathedral--would preach on such an occasion. He was advertised to preach, as "Chaplain General of the Loyalists." These were three good reasons for not giving Sir Samuel Clithering the few minutes he demanded. I had, also, a fourth. I had held, as I have related, previous communications with Clithering. I suspected him of having more peerages in his pocket for distribution, and I did not want to undertake any further negotiations like that with Conroy. He might even--and I particularly disliked the idea--be empowered to offer our Dean an English bishopric. I kept this last reason to myself, but I stated the other three fully to Sir Samuel. He seemed dissatisfied. "Everybody's going to church," he complained. "I can't get Lord Moyne. I can't get Babberly. I can't get Malcolmson, and it's really most important that I should see some one. Going to church is all very well--" "As a leading Nonconformist," I said. "Free Churchman," said Sir Samuel. "I beg your pardon, Free Churchman. You ought not to object to people going to church. I've always understood that the Free Churchmen are honourably distinguished from other Christians by their respect for the practice of Sunday worship." "Of course, I don't object to people going to church. I should be there myself if it were not that--" He hesitated. I thought he might be searching for an appropriate text of Scripture so I helped him. "Your ass," I said, "has fallen into a pit, and you want--" This was evidently not exactly the text he wanted. He seemed astonished when I quoted it. "Ass!" he said. "What ass?" "The Government," I said. "It is in rather a hole, isn't it?" "Capital," said Clithering, laughing without the smallest appearance of mirth, "capital! I didn't catch the point for a moment, but I do now. My ass has fallen into a pit. You put the matter in a nutshell, Lord Kilmore. I don't mind confessing that a pit of rather an inconvenient size does lie in front of us. I feel sure that you, as a humane man, won't refuse your help in the charitable work of helping to get us out." Marion came downstairs in her best hat. It was not for nothing that Bob Power and I and the running volunteer had struggled with her trunk. Her frock, also, was charming. "Your daughter," said Clithering. "Now my dear young lady, you must spare your father to me for an hour. Affairs of state. Affairs of state. But you'll allow me to send you to church in my car. My private secretary is in it, and I shall tell him to see you safely to church, to secure a seat for you--"