"Allow me.

I find this most entertaining." The Under-Secretary of State was short and round, and full of respect for his own secretaryship, like an egg in the conscious possession of a sacred chick.

As a man he was far inferior to the Minister, and very unlike him.

He had none of the intellectual curiosity of his superior, and had consented to be present at this interview simply to please him.
His superior, possessed of a keen wit, was in the habit of throwing his own light now on one, now on another of the persons who revolved around him, and, at such moments, lie was apt to believe that they shone of themselves, as perhaps the sun may believe is the case with the orbs that pay their court to it.

The Under-Secretary of State reflected light upon the Minister, and the Minister reflected admiration upon the Under-Secretary of State.