"I heard that your friends wanted to get rid of you!" Arranmore answered.
"To make yourself obnoxious—thoroughly obnoxious," Mr. Hennibul murmured, "is the sure road to advancement."
"That's right, give me a few tips," Lord Arranmore begged, sipping his wine.
"My dear fellow, I don't know what you're going in for yet."
"Neither do I. What about the stage? I used to be rather good at private theatricals. Elderly Wyndhamy parts, you know."
Mr. Hennibul shook his head.
"Twenty years too late," he declared. "Even the suburbs turn up their noses at a lord now."
"I must do something," Arranmore declared, meditatively.
"Don't see the necessity," Hennibul remarked.
Lord Arranmore lifted his glass and looked thoughtfully at the wine for a moment.