"No, of course. It's what you find at the other end that counts. Well then, travelling aside, there is much to be said for Sandwich. The members' quarters are comfortable—very comfortable."
I must have made a disparaging gesture, for he immediately continued:—
"But, if it's only lunch you want, I advise those Lancashire clubs round Southport. They know how to lunch in those parts—Tweed salmon, Welsh mutton and Whitstable oysters."
"No doubt your judgment is correct," I replied, "but I——"
"And at one of them they keep a real French chef who knows his business. I wouldn't wish for a better cuisine anywhere."
"There are other things," I remarked loftily, "besides those you mention."
"Exactly; that's why I like to see a good bridge-room attached and enough tables to accommodate all comers. They have that at Spotworth. You can often get a game of poker as well."
"But don't you see," I exclaimed, "that all these things, are mere accessories and circumstances?"
"That is true," he murmured; "they are but frames as it were of the human interest. After all there's nothing to equal a crowd of jolly good fellows in the smoking-room. I've had some excellent times down at Bambury—stayed yarning away to all hours. Some of the best fellows I ever met belonged to that club."
"You don't talk at all like a golfer," said I.