Throw up your cap, sir! The world may be made of green cheese, but we have got to live in it!" Aldous smiled suddenly--uncontrollably--with a look which left his grandfather staring.

He had been appealing to the man of maturity standing on the threshold of a possibly considerable career, and, as he did so, it was as though he saw the boy of eighteen reappear! "_Je ne demands pas mieux_!" said Aldous with a quick lift of the voice above its ordinary key.

"The fact is, grandfather, I have come home with something in my mind very different from politics--and you must give me time to change the focus.

I did not come home as straight as I might--for I wanted to be sure of myself before I spoke to you.

During the last few weeks--" "Go on!" cried Lord Maxwell.
But Aldous did not find it easy to go on.