'I get paid extra for that; I do it in overtime.
But that wasn't all,' he went on hurriedly, well aware that his father was debating in his own mind whether he couldn't on the strength of it borrow a shilling. 'It was a special piece of work for the new governess at the Rectory. And, mother, isn't it odd? her name's Mary Tudor!'
'There isn't much in that,' his father answered, balancing his cigarette daintily between his first and second finger. '“A' Stuarts are na sib to the King,” you know, Richard. The Plantagenets who left the money had nothing to do with the Royal Family—that is to say, with us,' Mr. Plantagenet went on, catching himself up by an after-thought.
'They were mere Sheffield cutlers, people of no antecedents, who happened to take our name upon themselves by a pure flight of fancy, because they thought it high-sounding. Which it is, undoubtedly. And as for Tudors, bless your heart, they're common enough in Wales. In point of fact—though I'm proud of Elizabeth, as a by-blow of the family—we must always bear in mind that for us, my dear boy, the Tudors were never anything but a distinct mesalliance.'
'Of course,' Richard answered with profound conviction.
His father glanced at him sharply. To Mr. Plantagenet himself this shadowy claim to royal descent was a pretty toy to be employed for the mystification of strangers and the aggrandisement of the family—a lever to work on Lady Agatha's feelings; but to his eldest son it was an article of faith, a matter of the most cherished and the profoundest belief, a reason for behaving one's self in every position in life so as not to bring disgrace on so distinguished an ancestry.
A moment's silence intervened; then Dick turned round with his grave smile to Clarence:
'And how does Thucydides get on?' he asked with brotherly solicitude.
Clarence wriggled a little uneasily on his wooden chair.
'Well, it's not a hard bit,' he answered, with a shamefaced air. 'I thought I could do it in a jiffy after you came home, Dick. It won't take two minutes. It's just that piece, don't you know, about the revolt in Corcyra.'