“You would have to give a Baronetcy—perhaps a Barony to the man who resigns in his favour.”
“Of course. What is a Baronetcy—or a Barony for that matter?”
“I think it might be managed,” said Clifton, but not without a pause—a thoughtful pause. An inspiration came to him immediately after his visitor had said:
“Ah, you think so? That is just the point.”
“There is another way out of the difficulty, though it may not have occurred to you,” continued Clifton slowly.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know whether I should suggest it or not, Sir Harcourt—but it may have occurred to you. Mr. Philip West is your Under Secretary. He has always been a useful man. I know that in the country the opinion is very general that he has done very well.”
“For himself?” asked the Minister with a certain amount of dryness.
The Argus Secretary gave a very fair imitation of an Englishman’s imitation of a Frenchman’s shrug.
“He won his seat for us and I doubt if there’s another man in England who could have won it. I’m certain there’s not another who could hold it,” remarked Clifton.