"What do you say, Mother?" His worship proudly took a helping of potatoes. Maria did not say anything. "A compliment, you know. Limpenny's next in, but the Council is unanimous in asking me to keep on. I don't know that I want to, it's terrible work, great responsibility and it costs money; but, between you and me, I don't see who is going to do it better. Comes to that, I don't see who is going to do it as well. Limpenny's a gentleman and all that, college bred and so on, but he's not the man somehow. Give Limpenny his due, he knows that. He button-holed me this morning after the meeting of the Council. 'Mr. Mayor,' he said--Limpenny's one o' those precise think-before-you-speak sort o' people--'I do hope you'll continue in office. To my mind you're the right man in the right place.' I thought that very decent of Limpenny. Couldn't have spoken fairer, could he?" The hapless Maria gave an audible sniff and discontinued the eating of war beef. "Well, Mother, what do you say? The Council seems to think that I've got the half nelson on this town. So Aylett said. A bit of a wag in his way, is that Aylett. He said I'd got two hundred and eighty-six thousand people feeding from the hand. That's an exaggeration, but I see what he means; and he's a man of considerable municipal experience. Smartest town clerk in England, they tell me. 'It's all very well, Mr. Aylett,' I said, 'but I'll have to talk to the Mayoress. And I'll let you have an answer to-morrow.'" The hapless Maria declined gooseberry fool proffered by the respectful Alice. "Don't seem to be eating, Mother," said his worship. "Aren't you well? I expect it's the weather." Maria thought it must be the weather; at any rate it could be nothing else. "Want a bit more air, I think," said Josiah in the midst of a royal helping of a favorite delicacy. "Just roll back those sunblinds, Alice, and let in a bit o' daylight." The sphinx-like Alice carried out the order. "And open the doors a bit wider." Alice impassively obeyed. "Would you like a nip of brandy? The weather, I suppose. Very hot to-day. Temperature nearly a hundred this morning in the Council Chamber. We'll have some new ventilators put in there or I'll know the reason. At the best of times there's a great deal too much hot air in the Council Chamber. And when you get a hot summer on the top of it...! Alice, go and get some brandy for the Mistress." Exit Alice. "You'll feel better when you've had a drop of brandy. Antiquated things those ventilators at the City Hall. Aylett thinks they've been there since the time of Queen Anne. But they're not the only things I'm going to scrap if I hold office another year. There's too much flummery and red tape round about Corporation Square. Tradition is all very well but we want something practical." Alice entered with a decanter.