“I--I--I b-beg your p-p-pardon, sir,” he stammered painfully; “I--I--I----” The wizened boy sauntered out without paying the slightest heed to these apologies. However, the next moment he had sauntered in again. “The Chief will see Cholmondeley Montgomery Mo-ly----” “Mullynooks,” said a small, black-haired, black-eyed young man, rising, with a yawn. “Mo-ly-know,” said the emissary, articulating the name with great aplomb in his own manner. “Neux rhymes with dukes,” said the young man with black eyes with an air of condescension. “And you got both my first names wrong, but it is of no consequence.” “I agree with you,” said the emissary with a devastating emphasis, “it _is_ of no consequence. And it is not considered the thing to keep fancy names without one is up to them socially.” Cholmondeley Montgomery Molyneux retired with an air of such supreme indifference, and of such inimitable _flair_, that those of his predecessors were made to appear as but the poorest of imitations. There was now only one other person remaining in the room, one whose youthfulness had been merged some years in a robust and full-blooded manhood. “Cocky young swine, ain’t he?” said this paladin to the boy with a great and sudden friendliness. “I should have to put it across him if I had to do with him much.” “I--I--I b-beg your p-pardon, sir,” stammered the boy. Under his breath he repeated several words of the English tongue which he then heard for the first time. “Stow the polite, matey,” said the other with an increasing friendliness. “A cove can’t live up to it when he’s off duty.” “Stow the polite, matey,” the boy muttered under his breath. What a baffling tongue was this with which he had to grapple! The emissary from high places entered again. “The Chief will see William Ewart Gladstone Smith,” he said. “And he desires that each applicant will have his references ready.” The boy was now left alone. He found it impossible to control his excitement. He rose from his chair, now that no one else was present, and walked up and down the carpeted floor like a wild animal in a cage. What was meant by “references?” This was yet another new development; it had not been included in the programme. How much he had yet to learn in the practical sciences before he could hope to move about the great world out of doors in freedom and security! Even a man like William Ewart Gladstone Smith, who looked just an ordinary common street-person, made use of a vocabulary that was quite beyond his experience. The wizened and undersized boy entered again. “The Chief will see William Jordan, Junior,” he said. Not knowing where he was, nor what he was doing, the boy turned to follow the emissary from high places. He was led through another door out into an ill-lit passage. “Come in here a minute,” said the emissary. He led the way into a small, dark room. Producing a clothes-brush, he began to wield it upon the applicant scrupulously.