"What on earth brought you to Belfast?" I said. "Why didn't you stay at home? Nobody wants you here. Why did you come?" Godfrey looked uneasily at Bland. He evidently did not want to make his reason for coming to Belfast public property. Godfrey is usually quite shameless. I could only imagine that he had done something of a peculiarly repulsive kind. "Well," I said, "why did you come?" He looked at Bland again, and then nodded sideways at me. "I suppose," I said, "that you thought there might be some assessment made by the Government of the amount of damage done in the town, and that if you started valuing things at once on your own hook, you might possibly get a job out of it." "But is there?" said Godfrey eagerly; "for if there is--" "So far as I know there isn't," I said. "Anyhow it wasn't that which brought me to Belfast. The fact is, Excellency, I couldn't very well stay at home. You remember,"--here his voice sunk to a whisper--"what I told you about the Pringles." "Your bank account?" "No. Not that. The girl, I mean. Tottie Pringle." "Oh yes, I remember." "Well, old Pringle began to get offensive. He seemed to think that I ought to--you know." "Marry her? I expect you ought." "Excellency?" said Godfrey in genuine horror and amazement. "By the way," said Bland, "I forgot to mention that I promised the court martial to get your nephew out of Belfast before to-morrow morning. I hope you don't mind. They wouldn't let him go on any other condition." "Quite right," I said. "Godfrey shall start to-night." "I don't see why I should," said Godfrey. "I don't think it's at all nice of you, Excellency, to--" "And while we're at it," I said, "we may as well ship off Clithering. Godfrey let me introduce you to--" I looked round and discovered that Clithering was not in the room. "I hope to goodness," I said, "that he's not gone out to get himself hanged. He rather wanted to a few minutes ago." "It's all right," said Bland. "I saw him going upstairs. I expect he's looking for his clothes." "Godfrey," I said. "I'm going to offer you a great chance. Sir Samuel Clithering is in every way a very big man. In the first place he's very rich. In the next place he's on intimate terms with the Prime Minister. In fact he's been sending him telegrams every hour or so for the last two days. You go upstairs and help him to find his clothes. Then take him over to London. The Fleetwood steamer is still running. If you can get him out of Belfast and lay him down safe and sound on his own doorstep the Government will be so grateful that they'll very likely make you a stipendiary magistrate." "But supposing he doesn't want to go?" "You'll have to make him," I said. "How?" said Godfrey. "How can I?" "Don't be a fool, Godfrey," I said. "Nag at him. You've got more than two hours before you, and nagging is a thing you're really good at."