“Cloudesley, I'd say,” observed another; “he's always on the watch for anything that comes into the 'extraordinaries.'”
“It will not be Cloudesley,” said a third. “He stayed away a year and eight months when they sent him to Tripoli, and there was a rare jaw about it for the estimates.”
“Hochmaringen is near Baden, and not a bad place for the summer,” said Culduff. “The duchess, I think, was daughter of the margravine.”
“Niece, not daughter,” said a stern-looking man, who never turned his eyes from his newspaper.
“Niece or daughter, it matters little which,” said Culduff, irritated at correction on such a point.
“I protest I 'd rather take a turn in South Africa,” cried another, “than accept one of those missions to Central Germany.”
“You 're right, Upton,” said a voice from the end of the room; “the cookery is insufferable.”
“And the hours. You retire to bed at ten.”
“And the ceremonial. Blounte never threw off the lumbago he got from bowing at the court of Bratensdorf.”
“They 're ignoble sort of things, at the best, and should never be imposed on diplomatic men. These investitures should always be entrusted to court functionaries,” said Culduff, haughtily. “If I were at the head of F. O., I'd refuse to charge one of the 'line' with such a mission.”